Rosecrance opens behavioral health urgent care to provide immediate help in Champaign

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) — A new behavioral health urgent care center aims to provide immediate help for adults experiencing mental health or substance use crises while easing the burden on local emergency rooms.

Rosecrance Central Illinois recently opened its Behavioral Health Urgent Care at 2302 N. Moreland Blvd. in Champaign, creating a dedicated space for adults who need urgent behavioral health services but may not require a hospital emergency department.

The facility opened on June 15. It serves adults aged 18 and older and is designed to connect people with treatment, psychiatric care and community resources as quickly as possible.

"Our community is struggling with substance use and mental health issues, and there still is such a significant stigma around these diseases," said Melissa Pappas, executive director of Rosecrance Central Illinois. "Agencies and organizations like Rosecrance are really kind of this guiding light for individuals that feel lost, that feel hopeless, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel."

Before the urgent care opened, many people experiencing behavioral health emergencies turned to hospital emergency departments for help. Pappas said the goal is to create a specialized option where people can receive immediate assessments and be connected to care.

"What Rosecrance really hopes to see is that that demand is taken off of the emergency rooms, and they can come to our organization, get assistance immediately for their behavioral health needs," she said. "The emergency departments can focus on the medical emergencies, and we can focus on the behavioral health emergencies."

The urgent care serves a variety of needs. People looking for help with substance use can walk in and receive an assessment before being connected with treatment programs. The center also offers emergency psychiatric appointments for people who have lost access to medications or are struggling to connect with a psychiatrist.

"Our goal is to match them within a program that specializes in whatever needs they need to have addressed," Pappas said.

The center is also working closely with law enforcement, first responders and community organizations. Pappas said officers who come into contact with people struggling with mental health or substance use issues can bring them directly to the urgent care instead of an emergency room or jail.

"It's really allowed us to say, 'Hey, we saw a gap, how do we fill it?'" Pappas said. "And then how do we get these individuals where they need to go? Because Rosecrance might not be their last stop."

She added that partnerships with local police departments, emergency rooms and other agencies have been key to making the program successful.

Just two weeks after opening, Pappas said the community response has exceeded expectations.

"It has been so exciting," she said. "People have come into our urgent care every single day. There has not been one day that we have not been able to assess somebody and get them to where they need to go, and that's exactly what we wanted."

The center has already received referrals and drop-offs from community partners, including local police departments and Cunningham Township.

"It has been so incredible seeing the support from central Illinois," Pappas said. "Rosecrance feels so honored that we get to open this program and that the community believes in us."

Looking ahead, Pappas hopes the urgent care becomes the first place people think of when someone is facing a behavioral health crisis. The Rosecrance Behavioral Health Urgent Care is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and serves adults aged 18 and older.