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Emergency center for mental health coming soon

Kitsap Sun - 7/23/2017

July 22--EAST BREMERTON -- As Damian Uzueta walked the halls Thursday of what will become Kitsap County's crisis triage center in East Bremerton -- a place for those in the throes of mental crises to be brought rather than the county jail or emergency room -- he imagined how the finished facility will look when completed.

"This is exciting," said Uzueta, director of inpatient services for Kitsap Mental Health, the agency which will operate the facility in the building, which until earlier this month housed Kitsap Recovery Center. "In my head I can already see the architect's design."

If everything goes as planned, officials expect it to begin accepting patients in March, with an official opening in April.

The crisis triage center had been a goal of officials dating back nearly 15 years. Kitsap County Human Services Director Doug Washburn said he has a study from 2003 finding the county needed such an alternative for mentally ill people who otherwise may be booked into the Kitsap County Jail.

"It's something the community has needed for a long time," said Joe Roszak, CEO of Kitsap Mental Health.

The remodel of the building is expected to cost about $3 million dollars, with most of the money coming from the state Department of Commerce and the Kitsap County voter-approved sales tax -- one penny per $10 -- to pay for mental health services.

Kitsap Metal Health will operate it, and Roszak said the agency will hire up to 40 new employees to staff the facility.

"It's not a shelter, it's not a housing project, it's a temporary place for people to seek safety and refuge and recalibrate their lives," he said.

The annual operating budget will be about $4.5 million. About $3.2 million of that is for running the crisis triage side, which will have 16 beds, and about $1.3 million will go toward the substance abuse inpatient treatment side, which will have the same number of beds available.

The 16-bed crisis facility will house people for one hour to five days, enough time to stabilize a person and connect them to services and medications. The facility also will house a 16-bed substance abuse facility, where people may stay up to 30 days.

Kitsap Recovery Center's operations moved to Port Orchard, with the inpatient and detox operations now located in a remodeled building near the county courthouse, and the outpatient operations placed in the Givens Center on Sidney Avenue.

The inpatient and detox operations in Port Orchard have 16 beds each, and the outpatient operation averages 40 patients a day.

Thursday's visit to the facility allowed officials to get a look at the building. Many walls will be knocked down, and half walls built, to make the facility more open.

"I can see it," Uzueta said.

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