On Tuesday, the Cook County Health & Hospitals System (CCHHS), with support from Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and the Cook County Justice Advisory Council, celebrated the opening of CCHHS’ new pilot Community Triage Center (CTC). The CCHHS CTC provides 24/7 intervention and stabilization services for individuals who are at-risk of detention or hospitalization due to a mental health or substance abuse condition. The CTC’s primary services include mental health crisis assessments and stabilization, health assessments, and referrals for treatment, case management and follow-up. This is the first walk-in clinic of its kind in Chicago.

The CTC is staffed by masters-level nurses, licensed clinical social workers, case managers and peer supporters. Psychiatrist consultations are available on-demand and performed by CCHHS psychiatrists. CCHHS is investing $3 million to operationalize and run the CTC in 2016. CCHHS received a $348,000 planning grant from the Otho SA Sprague Institute in 2015 to support development of the clinic. The CTC model has been successfully implemented in other cities in the U.S., such as Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Antonio. As previously announced, the health system also plans to offer behavioral health treatment in its community health centers, expand addiction medicine service and naloxone distribution, and establish a consortium of behavioral health care providers to serve more than 150,000 members of CountyCare, CCHHS’ Medicaid managed care health plan.