Since construction began in the summer of 2023, Benton County Behavioral Health has been building a crisis center to serve as a voluntary walk-in treatment-centered facility and an alternative emergency room.

Despite some delays with soil contamination, the center is on track to open this spring in Downtown Corvallis according to Project Manager Ricky Garcia. 

The Benton County Crisis Center will also function as a mental health resource, stabilizing individuals experiencing a mental health crisis and providing referrals and support for ongoing behavioral health services.

The site will be central to transportation, emergency services and service providers, all factors that went into the location on Fourth Street. 

According to Benton County Health, the crisis center will be open all hours of every day and will treat all ages and insurance statuses. Walk-ins from community members and OSU students alike are welcomed. 

The entire building will feature trauma-informed furnishings and design — a feature meant to increase patient mental stability — as well as ADA accessibility throughout the building.

Many of the design elements are intended to serve anyone who needs a break from the stressors connected to health care services and will have a “no-wrong-door” approach to support individuals who are having mental health crises for any reason.

Additionally, on the track of providing a healthy patient experience, the center will serve as a resource for community partners, from non-profits to law enforcement agencies, who need help accessing behavioral health needs for clients and community members.

Client care will vary at the crisis center, and with a variety of provided services, patients can receive emergency care or can stay for a more extended period of up to 29 days. As outlined in the Benton County Health one-pager, some services that will be provided are: 

• “Crisis assessments and case management 
• Short-term therapy and skills training 
• Engagement with primary care providers 
• Connection to treatment services and social service supports 
• A warm hand-off to ongoing services upon discharge”

Additionally, Garcia notes that the “facility will feature five stabilization recliners that people can utilize for up to 23 hours and six respite beds, which can be utilized for up to 29 days. The decision to access these services will be made collaboratively by the clinician and the individual being served.”

With this wide range of services, the Crisis Center hopes to divert individuals from higher levels of care — including the acute psychiatric inpatient unit at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center and the Benton County Jail — and additionally save patients money. 

“Typical hospital inpatient costs are more than $1,000/day vs costs of less than $450/day at a crisis center,” Benton County Health said in their one-pager on the clinic. 

This affordability means that “twice as many adults (18+) can be served, in a less restrictive, trauma-controlled environment beyond the emergency room.” 

To promote accessibility, safety and the nature of a mental health sanctuary, The Benton County Health Department formed a design committee of mental health professionals and community partners to work with the architects from Mahlum to ensure these principles are experienced by all who enter. 

“With this project, we’ve had the unique opportunity to mold a facility to meet our program needs as we build it from the ground up. Once we are fully operational, this facility will increase access to qualified mental health professionals for people experiencing mental health crises,” Garcia said. 

Some of these design committee partners include Corvallis Daytime Drop-In Center, InterCommunity Health Network, Oregon State University, Samaritan Health Services and Strengthening Rural Families.

Benton County Health explains on its website that a big focus of the committee and their partners was awareness and empathy of the reality of an individual in crisis, and in order to ensure the effectiveness of the center, the committee participated in journey-mapping exercises that put them in the shoes of someone seeking crisis services to guide the process and flow of services.

Another activity, called visual listening, gave the committee an opportunity to authentically react to different designs in order to help define the look and feel of the building.

According to Garcia, by overcoming construction issues like soil contamination from a previous project, the team was able to address an issue that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. As a result, they confidently say that the environmental qualities of the site have been properly resolved for the benefit of the community and those who will use the facility. 

With goals to provide high-quality care and support for individuals experiencing mental health crises, the center’s opening aims to fill gaps in the community’s continuum of care and access to qualified mental health professionals.

This spring of 2025, visit the new Benton County Health Center in downtown Corvallis or visit their website at https://health.bentoncountyor.gov/ to learn more.