Coming in 2025

THE MIDDLESEX COUNTY RESTORATION CENTER

Vinfen Behavioral Health (VBH) continues to expand our service offerings with our latest program—the groundbreaking Middlesex County Restoration Center. This new innovative mental health and substance use disorder treatment center—located in Lowell and developed in collaboration with the Middlesex County Restoration Center Commission and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS)—is a diversion program designed to offer an alternative to emergency rooms and incarceration for individuals experiencing behavioral health crises.

RESTORATION OVER INCARCERATION

Individuals with mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders (collectively referred to as व्यवहारिक स्वास्थ्य चुनौतियाँ) have been found to interact with law enforcement at high rates. As a result, police departments have increasingly sought to implement diversion programs, which can connect these individuals with the care they need to prevent law enforcement interaction in the first place, instead of arresting them for crimes that are often related to the person’s behavioral health.

In lieu of better options, members of law enforcement and emergency services responding to 911 calls most frequently bring individuals in crisis to lock-up facilities and hospital emergency departments, where patients may endure long wait times for the specialized care they need.

The Restoration Center’s mission is to offer police and other emergency responders with a place to bring persons suffering from acute behavioral health crises, while serving as a “front-door” for individuals to receive both urgent care and connections to further services across the care continuum that promote recovery.

RESTORATION CENTER SERVICES

The Restoration Center will offer 24/7/365 access for drop-offs by police and other first responders—as well as walk-in patients—and emphasizes rapid engagement of the individual, evidence-based treatment, and facilitated access to multiple types of support services, including:

  • Triage and medical clearance
  • Behavioral health crisis assessment, intervention and stabilization
  • Psychiatric evaluation and medication management
  • Care coordination between a patient’s behavioral and medical healthcare providers
  • Connection to peer specialists and recovery coaches
  • Connection to offsite Community Crisis Stabilization (CCS) services
  • Connection to offsite acute treatment services (detox) for substance use disorder
  • A 10-bed Respite Care Program for short-term admissions
  • Sober support for individuals who are intoxicated

The new facility, which will house the full range of core services offered, is scheduled to be open and operational by 2025. In the interim, however, some supports will be available, including:

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