Three communities will receive a combined $13 million from the state of Virginia to support crisis services including the development of receiving centers, stabilization units and therapeutic homes.
The fourth round of grant awards, announced on Friday, are part of a $1.4 billion overall investment to transform behavioral healthcare in Virginia.
The latest round of projects includes:
- Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board: Will receive $6.5 million to expand community-based crisis services in coordination with two other existing adult CSUs. With combined state and local funding, the board will open a new adult CRC and develop a separate youth site offering a CRC, CSU and acute substance use detox and residential services creating a more comprehensive crisis response system for all ages.
- Rappahannock Area Community Services Board: Will receive $5.5 million, building on an award announced last year. Funding will support the purchase of a large new commercial property and expand the scope of the original project. In addition to a new CRC, the long-standing Sunshine Lady House adult CSU in Fredericksburg will be relocated and updated, and a youth CRC and CSU will be added.
- Alleghany Highlands Community Services Board: Will receive $1 million in support of developing new CRCs and CSUs for adults and children, improving access to timely, local crisis care. This project is being established through strong partnerships with local law enforcement and other critical stakeholders. Funds will be used to support renovations of a recently purchased commercial building well-suited for community-based crisis services.
Investments have been made by the state to support the development and rehabilitation of CRCs and CSUs but also to support the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and mobile crisis teams.
“Each new crisis receiving center and stabilization unit brings us closer to a behavioral health system that is even more accessible, compassionate and effective,” said Secretary of Health and Human Resources Janet V. Kelly. “These facilities meet people in their communities, reduce unnecessary hospital visits, and connect Virginians to the right level of care from the very start.
“This is how we turn meaningful investment into life-changing impact,” Kelly said.
As part of the Right Help, Right Now statewide initiative, CRCs and CSUs will provide safe, community-based alternatives to hospital emergency departments and jails, connecting individuals directly to the needed level of care while easing pressure on law enforcement and hospitals.
“These projects represent real progress toward a crisis system that works for every Virginian,” said Nelson Smith, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. “By expanding access to local, specialized care, we are giving people in crisis a safe place to turn and the support they need to stabilize and begin recovery. Our community services boards are key partners in making this vision a reality.”
ICYMI
- Augusta County: As $16.5M crisis center eyes groundbreaking, neighbors raise issue
- Augusta County: VCSB purchases property for crisis center, should break ground this year
Previously, Valley and Region Ten community services boards received funds through this initiative.
Valley Community Services Board received funds to develop a CRC and CSU. It recently purchased a 6-acre site on Wilson Boulevard in Fishersville to build a $16.5 million facility, on track to open in the fall of 2027. In addition to the state, Staunton, Waynesboro, Augusta County and Highland County will contribute to the project. In Staunton, Augusta County and Waynesboro, the number of deaths by suicide is almost double the state and national average. A community needs assessment report by Augusta Health ranked mental health and substance abuse both in the top five needs in the area.
Region Ten, covering the City of Charlottesville and five surrounding counties in Central Virginia, currently operates a 16-bed adult CSU. A one-time award of $3 million will allow for construction of an adjoining 16-chair CRC. This project will be sustained with $1.7 million in ongoing funds.
Right Here, Right Now grants
These new investments build on more than $108 million for 19 crisis projects announced since December 2023.
In addition to Valley and Region Ten CSBs, other projects include:
- Blue Ridge Behavioral Health: This proposal will create space for eight to 10 Adult Crisis Receiving Center guests through renovation of space adjacent to the existing Crisis Stabilization Unit.
- Chesapeake Integrated Behavioral Health: Chesapeake Integrated Behavioral Health, using DBHDS general funds and Project BRAVO funds, is near completion of renovations to an existing property owned by the City of Chesapeake to create Heron’s Cove, a 16-chair adult Crisis Receiving Center.
- Colonial Behavioral Health: Colonial Behavioral Health will develop a Crisis Receiving Center near Eastern State Hospital in James City County.
- Danville-Pittsylvania Community Services Board: The CSB has previously purchased and completed renovation of a credit union building to utilize as their CRC facility. As the project has evolved and existing funding has allowed the CRC to open with limited operations, the CSB has learned additional staffing will be needed for complete operations. These additional funds will support recruitment and onboarding of three additional staff, which will allow for robust 24/7 operations.
- Hampton Newport News Community Services Board: This proposal will allow for the expansion of an existing Crisis Stabilization Unit along with the addition of a Crisis Receiving Center.
- Henrico Area Mental Health & Developmental Services: Henrico County will use the funds to complete financing of a large-scale project to establish a new CRC and CSU alongside a new residential detox service. Coordination among these three services will significantly increase the ability to serve individuals in crisis with co-occurring mental health and substance use issues.
- Highlands Community Services Board: Highlands CSB recently opened a co-located CRC and CSU for adults that show promising outcomes for the individuals they serve. DBHDS will provide $1.75 million in ongoing funds to support and continue the services they are providing in Abingdon.
- Loudoun Community Services: Loudoun is the one of the fastest growing counties in the nation, and county leaders identified the community need to increase services for individuals in crisis. DBHDS will provide $4.1 million in capital funding to construct a CRC and CSU.
- Mount Rogers Community Services Board: Mount Rogers currently operates both a CRC and CSU at separate locations. Funds approved will facilitate relocation of the CRC program to an improved space that will be adjacent to the CSU. The new CRC facility will improve ability for law enforcement to safely hand off cases and get back on the street. CSU capacity will be doubled from eight to 16 beds, and these new funds will also provide operational expense to support staff recruitment and retention.
- New River Valley Community Services Board: New River Valley has established successful CRC and CSU programs for adults. These new, one-time funds totaling $4.2 million will support the establishment of three new programs for youth through co-locating a CRC, CSU and CTH. An additional $2.4 million in ongoing funds will ensure sustainability of the two existing sites and the three new sites. The CTH is part of the CSB’s REACH services array designed to meet the crisis support needs of individuals who have a developmental disability (DD) and are experiencing crisis events. REACH programs offer an additional layer of support to emergency services, the state hospital system, and caregivers who work the most closely with individuals with a developmental disability.
- Planning District One Community Services Board: Currently, the CSB operates a CRC in a building they have already purchased and renovated. However, staffing the site has been difficult with current operational funds. Additional funds will allow for recruitment, onboarding, and retention of staff for complete 24/7 operations.
- Prince William Community Services Board: Prince William CSB is headlong in developing one of the largest crisis sites in the state with full CRC and CSU operations for children and adults under one roof. This additional appropriation of funds will ensure full and sustained staffing once operational.
- Rappahannock Area Community Services Board: The CSB currently operates a crisis stabilization unit, and one-time funds will be provided for construction of an adjacent crisis receiving center. This new facility will provide an essential service to one of the most populated CSBs in the Commonwealth.
- Richmond Behavioral Health Authority: Richmond Behavioral Health Authority will update their Adult Crisis Stabilization Unit facility to modern “no-wrong door” standards. A second project will complete a Crisis Receiving Center in early stages of development. RBHA serves as the regional office for the Richmond area, and they have long partnered with St. Joseph’s Villa in Richmond to operate a youth CSU. This ongoing funding of $1.3 million will provide resources for additional staff to maintain services for youth in the Henrico area and better support the newly opened CRC. Additionally, RBHA will receive a one-time award of $650,000 to make facility improvements to their operational adult CTH, and an additional $586,000 of ongoing dollars to support this essential service.
- Western Tidewater Community Services Board: Through their proposal, Western Tidewater CSB will build a much-needed purpose-built Adult Crisis Therapeutic Home in Suffolk near the Western Tidewater Crisis Receiving Center. Serving as the regional office, Western Tidewater will expand its existing array of REACH services by building a youth CTH to further meet the needs of youth with a DD in their area with $3 million in one-time funding and $3.1 million in ongoing funding starting in FY26. This program will provide short-term out-of-home crisis services and expand prevention resources.
Following a General Assembly allocation of an additional $4.2 million for child psychiatry and children’s crisis response services. Portsmouth, Mount Rogers, Western Tidewater and Northwestern community service boards will receive the pilot funds. The pilot calls for enhanced crisis stabilization services with the goal of realizing better outcomes, through support and connection with the child’s family, schools and support networks. The $4.2 million for children’s crisis services are in addition to $10 million allocated in one-time costs to establish mobile crisis services in underserved areas and $10 million in one-time funds for Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Programs.
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Crystal Graham
