Bridging the Gap: A Peek Into The New Grand Traverse Mental Health Crisis and Access Center

Emily Fitzgerald

Staff Writer

​

The Grand Traverse Mental Health Crisis and Access Center officially opens on Jan. 5, 2025 to help fill the void of mental health resources in Traverse City. Like so many other cities and towns in the country, Traverse City desperately needs more mental health resources. The emergency room and the urgent care facilities often see mental health patients because they don’t know where else to go or they cannot get into a psychiatrist or other mental health provider for an extended period of time.

 

The city is missing a bridge between medical providers and mental health providers to ensure proper care for those in need of mental health care. While some believe that medical practitioners can provide proper care for mental health patients, this is not always true. Mental health care is a specialty and not easily treated like a sore throat or an ear infection. For many in Traverse City, there is a lack of accessibility to mental health care and the community suffers as a result.

 

Michael Corby, the director of the Grand Traverse Mental Health Crisis and Access Center explains the center as a place where “If you’re in crisis, if you don’t know that you’re in crisis or you just don’t know where to start, this is a good place to come and get started.” He explains that whether you are in an obvious or nuanced state of mental health distress, you are welcome to come in and talk to someone. Individuals who are in need of help with substance use disorders are also welcome to come in and speak with a staff member to get resources to help with their specific needs.

 

A typical trip through the facility would start with the security desk. Munson will have security onsite 24 hours a day and seven days a week to check bags for contraband and possible weapons. Next, there is a secure door that one must pass through to get to the reception area to be checked in. There will be a waiting room for patients to wait until a peer support specialist is available to take them to an assessment room. Family and friends are more than welcome to sit in the waiting room for the clients to be discharged.

 

Some individuals may only need to speak with this first point of contact to get back to a healthy mindset. If more help is needed, a clinician will come in to do a suicide screening, a risk assessment, and then create a plan. This may involve the center needing time to reach out to other resources for more assistance for the client.

 

This may also mean that the client just needs to be in a safe, quiet environment to calm their mind. In these instances, the center offers living room areas where someone can take the time needed to reach out to other resources or simply just be there to ease their distress when it is deemed that a safe unlocked environment will be appropriate. Initially, these rooms will be available for clients for approximately 10 hours, with the center aiming to have them available 24/7 in the future. Once the hours expand, these rooms will be available for approximately 23 hours at a time for clients. If clients need more time they will not be kicked out, but rather re-assessed to see if a different approach is more appropriate.

 

The center plans on offering services such as crisis phone screening, face-to-face crisis intervention, referrals to outpatient therapy/other resources, and peer support services. Access to showers will be available if a client needs to get cleaned up before the next step in their treatment, and a clothing closet for those in need will be accessible as well. The center is also aiming to have community resources on site for group meetings and to be available with further resources for the clients. There will also be an access room for emergency service personnel (first aid responders and police) if it is needed for transporting clients safely while also ensuring minimal disruption to others at the center.

 

While the center is not intended to be a drop-in center, clients can be referred to those types of facilities. Corby also showed me a room called the sensory room, which would be available for anyone who is getting upset or escalated. It’s a room where they can be monitored, but have the alone time they need to de-escalate. There is also a nursing station just outside this room to help monitor everyone in the group area as well as that room.

 

Staff for the center will consist of bachelor’s and master’s level clinicians and peer support specialists. Once the psychiatric urgent care is available, there will be doctors and nursing staff available as well to the clients.

 

The hours of operation will be from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, with them expected to expand starting July 1, 2025 where they will then be open for the community 24/7. Services are also set to expand with psychiatric urgent care, adding a nine bed adult crisis center unit in summer 2025, with a pediatric six bed unit added later in fall.

 

“Our goal with the center is to alleviate the burden on the ED, because you know they get swamped with mental health right now, and to alleviate the pressure on the legal system,” said Corby.

 

With the nearest mental health residential centers to Traverse City being Oscoda and Gaylord, this type of facility is desperately needed and will be a great asset to the community. Corby further states with the anticipation of this center, “This is not going to solve the mental health crisis in the area, but we’re hoping it will help and we’re hoping this will be a way to make better connections to and more connections to community partners.”