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Augusta County: After opposition, crisis center to look for alternate location

Crystal Graham
mental health crisis center
(© Maryana – stock.adobe.com)

Valley Community Services Board is on the hunt again for property for a crisis center after the owner of the property withdrew its application for a proffer amendment.

The matter was scheduled to go before the Augusta County Planning Commission for consideration tonight. The property owner, Sunrise Investments of Augusta County LLC, had requested that the restrictions on building height and overall size be removed so the property could be utilized for the center.

Augusta County Planner Julia Hensley told AFP this morning that the application for the amendment was withdrawn, and VCSB confirmed it would be looking for a different site.

“Due to the large opposition to the placement of the center on the proposed property, VCSB was apprised of the unlikely probability that the application for the removal of the proffer would be approved by the Augusta County Board of Supervisors,” said Kimberly K. McClanahan, Ph.D., executive director of Valley Community Services Board.

“As a result, VCSB has withdrawn the application and will seek other alternatives for a building site for the crisis center,” she told AFP.

The proposed location, at the intersection of Lifecore Drive and Village Creek Drive in Fishersville, was near other medical facilities including Augusta Health hospital and the Outpatient Pavilion.

However, the area also has a number of single-family detached homes, apartments and a townhouse community is currently under construction.

The location drew criticism from area homeowners who agreed that a center was needed but didn’t want it in their backyard.

“Our concerns cover the decrease in property values; the safety issue for children, students, and neighbors; increased traffic in and around our community; and the lack of privacy for persons in a mental health crisis when brought to this crisis center,” said Joyce Hite, a Village on Goose Creek homeowner.

“If this request is approved … it will impact my neighborhood of Village on Goose Creek with 32 households, mostly seniors; it will impact Murphy Deming College of Health SciencesMary Baldwin University staff and students; and residents in the nine multi-level apartment complex where approximately 100 children meet at the intersection for their school bus stop,” Hite said.

VCSB is not alone in facing opposition to a proposed location.

Despite some positive movement on mental health treatment and its acceptance, throughout the world, facilities of this nature have faced pushback on the geographical location due to ongoing stigma, according to a recent study shared by the National Institutes of Health.

VCSB has been on the hunt for property for more than a year to construct a building that would house a Crisis Receiving Center and Crisis Stabilization Unit that would ideally be located near Augusta Health. The facility would treat substance abuse and mental health patients in crisis.

About the crisis center


The proposed building would house two different programs: the first, the Crisis Receiving Center, which operates as a 24-hour observation unit where someone may check themselves in on a voluntary basis or a TDO. When someone arrives at the center, they would be greeted by a peer support specialist, someone who has lived experience, which has been proven to be very successful at the intervention level. They would also receive a medical evaluation. The observation area plans include 16 chairs or recliners for patients in crisis.

For those who aren’t ready to be sent home after observation, they would move to the Crisis Stabilization Unit. They will continue to get peer support as well as individual or family therapy and their medication may be managed to get them stable and in a position to go home. Plans are for the CSU to include 16 flex beds for detox or mental health treatment and would allow patients to stay longer, usually four to five days. Depending on the situation, a patient could stay in the stabilization unit for up to 15 days.

The goal is also to move crisis co-responders into the building so that all of VCSB’s crisis services and responders are under one roof.

SAW area lacks behavioral health treatment options


In the Staunton, Augusta County, Waynesboro region, the numbers of suicides are almost double the state and national average. In SAW, there are 22.7 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to 13.4 in Virginia, and 13.9 in the United States.

Research also backs up the need in the area – with mental health and substance abuse both in the top five needs identified by a community needs assessment report completed by Augusta Health in 2022, with mental health ranking number one and substance abuse ranking number five.

Despite the identified need, there is no crisis stabilization unit in the immediate area – and nearby options including Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, etc., are often full, leading to long waits in emergency rooms until a treatment facility has an opening.

“Getting the help people need, when they need it, where they need it and meeting them where they need it, is imperative,” McClanahan told AFP in a September 2023 interview. “We don’t really have the capacity to do what we need to do with our folks in crisis here.”

The next steps: ‘We will get the mission accomplished’


Once a location is secured and ground is broken, it will take approximately two years to complete the $15 million facility.

The goal had been to break ground in 2025 and work to open the facility in 2027. It is unknown how this setback will impact the timeline.

The Department of Behavioral Health has committed $9.6 million to the facility.

McClanahan said it was too early to say what the next steps will be for VCSB since the request was just withdrawn this morning.

“Our commitment to the project and the center remains constant, and we will get the mission accomplished,” McClanahan said.


For related stories on Augusta Free Press, search “Valley Community Services Board” or “mental health“.

Crystal Graham

Crystal Graham

Crystal Abbe Graham is the regional editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1999 graduate of Virginia Tech, she has worked for 25 years as a reporter and editor for several Virginia publications, written a book, and garnered more than a dozen Virginia Press Association awards for writing and graphic design. She was the co-host of "Viewpoints," a weekly TV news show, and co-host of Virginia Tonight, a nightly TV news show on PBS. Her work on "Virginia Tonight" earned her a national Telly award for excellence in television.