Steven M. Morris Behavioral Health Center nears opening in Cabarrus County

Cabarrus County officials previewed the Steven M. Morris Behavioral Health Center and the services it will offer when it opens.

Camila McKisick, the county’s behavioral health director, said the center’s opening is the culmination of years of work. “This moment means so much. The fact that we’re almost open to this is better than Christmas because all this hard work and all these years of research and dedication and commitment ... it’s finally coming into fruition,” McKisick said.

Ashley Conrad, Monarch’s Crisis Services Chief Operating Officer, described the center’s care model and the populations it will serve. “The services that we’re providing are behavioral health urgent care and that’s for children and adults,” Conrad said. She likened the service to a walk-in urgent-care clinic for physical injuries, saying people in a mental-health crisis could go to the center rather than an emergency department.

Conrad said the center will also provide facility-based crisis care — a short-term service typically lasting about seven to 14 days for adolescents — and psychiatric residential treatment, a longer-term residential program generally lasting about four to six months. “This is a huge need in the state. A lot of our children are being sent out of the state because there aren’t enough beds in North Carolina,” she said.

McKisick and Conrad both emphasized that the effort relied on partnerships among first responders, crisis providers and regional organizations to coordinate resources and referrals as the center prepares to open. “We cannot do this work without our partners,” McKisick said. “We do nothing in isolation ... making sure that as the center is opening that we really know what the resources are in the community and in the region to make sure that folks know where to go and what to do when they’re in need.”

County outreach information accompanying the preview asked viewers to follow Cabarrus County on social media for updates and to sign up for the county’s newsletter; a grand opening date will be announced soon. The county released the preview ahead of the center’s opening to introduce the services and encourage coordination among local agencies and providers.