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Detroit Crisis Care Center marks a year of helping those battling mental illness
The Brief
Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network's Crisis Care Center celebrated one year on Friday.
Staff say that more than 2,000 people fighting mental illness have been cared for in that time span.
Plans are underway to open two more sites in Ecorse and on the NW side of Detroit.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - This week marks one year since The Crisis Care Center opened in Detroit.
The backstory
Officials say they've helped over 2,000 people in emergency situations, proving that handcuffs and jails cells aren't always the best option.
"It's wonderful for this community having served in the city, and knowing how much of a crown jewel this is," said James White, president and CEO of the Detroit Wayne Integrated Network.
Last year it opened the 707 Crisis Care Center, not knowing what to expect - but hoping for the best.
Grace Wolf is the vice president of Crisis Services.
"There's that age-old saying 'If you build it, will they come?' And so we're standing here waiting and waiting and hoping, and at 10:55 a.m. on June 10, we had our first triage," she said.
Since then, they've been working around the clock helping whoever called or walked through their doors.
"Two thousand, three hundred-eighty lives touched in one year and that doesn't count the additional thousand calls that our mobile crisis has taken to people's homes," White said.
White, the president and CEO joined the team seven months ago and says the services they provide, from adult stabilization to their youth and Family Crisis Unit, is what makes the center so special.
He spent years with the Detroit Police Department, including as chief, and says these are the services people in emergencies need.
"They don't need to be sitting at an emergency room at hospital without services or waiting to get a bed," he said. "They don't need a police officer, they need behavioral health specialists."
Native Detroiter Tina Nelson has seen it firsthand.
"I do have family members who have had situations, back in the day. Where could they go?" said Tina Nelson, DWIHN media partner. "I mean padded, padded cells. Like he said 24-hour holding and then now we just let them back out, but we're not dealing with this (points at her head)."
But now they are.
The Crisis team helps a person mentally and emotionally, getting them back on their feet and not behind bars.
"Much work still needs to be done. we're certainly not declaring victory against this behavioral heath crisis, but this is a valuable tool," White said.
They are planning to expand by opening centers on Detroit's northwest side, at Seven Mile and Greenview and in Ecorse to serve Downriver in fall of 2026.
The Source
Interviews with members of the Crisis Care Center was used in this report.
