24/7 Mental Health Urgent Care Center Planned for Brattleboro

The project is being backed by $3.6 million in grant funding from the Vermont Department of Mental Health.

Brattleboro is set to gain a new around-the-clock crisis care option in January, when Health Care & Rehabilitation Services expects to open a mental health urgent care center offering walk-in support for adults and young people.

The project is being backed by $3.6 million in grant funding from the Vermont Department of Mental Health. HCRS says the facility is meant to give the region a community-based alternative for people facing mental health, substance use and combined crises, especially when they need more help than Mobile Crisis can provide but do not need an emergency department or inpatient admission.

The center is being developed alongside plans for four short-term residential beds for children and youth who need stabilization. Those beds will be part of a broader effort to add more options for young people who require a therapeutic setting rather than hospitalization.

Health Care & Rehabilitation Services is still finalizing a leased site in Brattleboro and expects to spend the coming months preparing the space, hiring and training staff, and setting up operating procedures. The organization also plans to work closely with local partners before the launch.

The new program will include peer support, crisis intervention, stabilization services, medical support, care coordination, assessments and links to ongoing treatment. It will also serve people dealing with both mental health and substance use challenges. HCRS says it will coordinate with 988, Mobile Crisis, hospitals, outpatient providers, schools, peer support groups, first responders, housing agencies and other community organizations.

The effort is intended to address a gap in southeastern Vermont’s crisis system, according to HCRS. The group says regional data and its own community assessment point to heavy emergency room use, trouble getting timely crisis stabilization and a shortage of local alternatives.

About 34 jobs are expected to be created. To help fill those positions, HCRS is holding a job fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday at Brooks Memorial Library. Additional information is available on the career page at hcrs.org.

Community leaders in Brattleboro welcomed the plan. At a One Brattleboro meeting on Friday morning, Town Manager John Potter said participants agreed the initiative would help strengthen the town’s safety, health and resilience efforts. Brattleboro Police Chief Jeremy Evans said the department sees the project as a useful new option and looks forward to continuing its work with HCRS. State’s Attorney Steven Brown also expressed support and said he hopes to explore ways the center could help at the point where mental health needs overlap with the justice system.

Brattleboro Select Board Chair Oscar Heller said mental health sits at the center of many of the town’s larger problems and said the arrival of substantial funding for the issue is encouraging. Selectboard member Isaac Evans-Frantz said the new center would give residents another place to turn and could reduce pressure on the local emergency room, where many people in crisis have been seeking care because other options are limited.