Proposed Behavioral Health 'Diversion Center' in Rockville to Help Individuals in Crisis to Have Update on Tuesday, May 21

Montgomery County officials will host a project update on the planned "Diversion Center" at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21, in the auditorium of the Executive Office Building (EOB) in Rockville. The meeting will also be accessible virtually via Microsoft TEAMS at Diversion Center Project Update. The center, which will be located on Seven Locks Road in Rockville, will treat individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis.

The EOB is located at 101 Monroe Street in Rockville.

County officials participating in the May 21 meeting will include:

• Earl Stoddard, assistant chief administrative officer
• Rolando Santiago, chief, Behavioral Health and Crisis Services, Department of Health and Human Services
• Hamid Omidvar, chief, Division of Building Design and Construction, Department of General Services

The County is opening the diversion center to help reduce the use of emergency rooms and jail. The center will be available to individuals in crisis who are dropped off by emergency medical technicians (EMTs) or police, persons transferred from hospitals, and health and human services Mobile Crisis & Outreach Teams. A team of multidisciplinary professionals will staff the center, including nurses, licensed mental health and addiction professionals, peer specialists and resource navigators.

The center will provide a variety of behavioral health services, including triage, crisis stabilization and warm hand-off referrals to appropriate services. These services are designed to stabilize individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis during the first hours and up to three days. The center will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.

An initial public meeting was held in October 2022 to hear from City of Rockville officials and community members. A second meeting, in April 2023, provided an update on questions raised at the October 2022 meeting related to procedures for individuals brought to the diversion center.

At the most recent project update meeting held in July 2023, the community was advised there would be the creation of a Stakeholder Engagement team to incorporate community feedback in the design process, including elements that would improve the neighborhood experience with the site. The team would be made up of individuals from the neighboring community, recovery community, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of General Services and the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation.