Craig Crisis Care Center serves 1,300 people since opening last year

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - It’s been one year since the Craig Crisis Care Center opened in Birmingham. It’s a facility dedicated to helping those experiencing a mental health or substance-use crisis.

The Crisis Care Center opening was delayed because a lack of staffing last year before finally opening in March of 2023 with ten beds available. Now a year later, they’re at full capacity serving dozens of patients at a time.

“Well, the last year has been a whirlwind,” said Craig Crisis Care Center Director Dr. Sabrina Scott. “We’ve made tremendous progress. We went to full capacity maybe at the end of November.”

All 48 beds now available for patients. 32 are meant for those staying 23 hours or less and 16 are for extended observation.

Dr. Scott said they’ve served 1,300 people since last March.

She says 60-70% of their patients deal with substance use.

“We have a lot of people coming in for detox, but a lot of people are co-occurring so you’ll have them with mental health and substance use.”

No matter what kind of crisis someone is dealing with, Dr. Scott says they’re available. While most of their patients are walk-ins, they work with law enforcement and medical centers.

“We did a pilot project with UAB to take referrals out of their ER and, to date, we’ve taken about 210 referrals,” she said, adding that 165 people have been dropped off by officers in the last year.

“This service relieves a lot of pressure from law enforcement and hospitals because people who are struggling with mental health and substance use, this is the place that they need to be,” said Dr. Scott. “They don’t need to be incarcerated. They don’t need to sit in the emergency room ER and get lost in the shuffle.”

She says they hope to expand their partnerships with more hospitals and law enforcement agencies moving forward. She wants people to think of the CCCC when they see somebody in crisis.

If you or a loved one is suffering a mental break or crisis, you can call them or drop by at any time. They are open 24/7.

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