WARSAW — Bowen Center offers Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Services to anyone experiencing a mental health crisis. The goal of Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Services is to de-escalate a mental health crisis by providing less restrictive care in a comfortable environment. Studies have shown the approach can be more effective than hospitalization, can prevent future crises, and can save lives.

The Center has always offered crisis services. If someone walks into any Bowen Center facility in crisis, no matter what they define that crisis to be, they will get the help they need. Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Services are available 24/7/365, and no one is turned away. It offers a safe, warm place for people to calm down, receive brief mental health therapy and/or medication management, and be connected to community resources such as housing, transportation, and more.

Individuals in crisis can walk in or be brought to any Bowen Center location during regular office hours, and they will be assessed and provided care. If it is after hours, on weekends, or on holidays, these services are available at Bowen Center’s Crisis Receiving and Stabilization facility in Pierceton, IN, which also houses its Psychiatric Hospital. There, they will be provided short-term observation and stabilization for under 24 hours in a comfortable setting. Should hospitalization be required, they can be admitted to Bowen Psychiatric Hospital right down the hall.

The need for these services is clear. In April, work began to expand the Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Services Center in Pierceton to accommodate more guests. If their crisis is not de-escalated, individuals who do not receive crisis intervention services can end up in the Emergency Room or worse. By providing the help and support they need during that time, hospitalization can often be avoided, and health outcomes can improve.

Bowen Center was also recently granted a Mobile Crisis Response Designation from the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction. That distinction allows Bowen Center, in partnership with 988, to dispatch trained Mobile Crisis Teams to individuals in the community wherever they are if they are unable to come to a Bowen Center location. Bowen Center will begin a Mobile Crisis Response pilot program in the summer and estimates their teams will provide service by the end of the year.

“The challenge in a mental health crisis is knowing where to go and what to do,” said Bowen Center President and CEO Dr. Rob Ryan. “Bowen Center has an answer. If you find yourself or someone you care about in a mental health crisis, walk in our door. If you are unsure if it is a crisis, walk in our door.”

In January, a desperate patient in crisis came to the Bowen Center Hospital, asking to be admitted. They were welcomed into the Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Center, where they were assessed by a Psychiatrist. The doctor determined that the patient needed a change in the medications they were being prescribed and that hospitalization was unnecessary. The patient got the help they needed immediately and before hospitalization was required.

Another patient recently completed a detox program and had been accepted to a sober living residential facility in another town. The facility, however, did not have a room available for several days. With nowhere to go and fearing his detox efforts were at risk, he was able to stay at the Bowen Center Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Center, a safe, comfortable, drug-free place for him to relax and receive support if needed while he waited for his room. Without that option, the patient might not have remained sober.

Bowen Center collaborates with local hospitals, behavioral health providers, law enforcement, first responders, social service agencies, and others for referrals. The purpose is to not only meet community needs but also to reduce hospital emergency room visits and the need for first responders and other community resources to respond to mental health crises when their services can be used in other areas.

A Bowen Center community partner referred a patient who, that day, had learned she was losing custody of her three small children and was feeling hopeless and suicidal. Bowen Center facilitated the physical transfer of her children to her ex-husband, limiting the trauma to her children and supporting the patient during the exchange. Afterward, she stayed in the Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Services Center for 24 hours until it was determined that hospitalization was needed to provide more intensive care. When she left the hospital, she was grateful, no longer hopeless, and was connected to various community resources to help her better manage her circumstances.

Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Services are funded by a $4.4 million grant from the Indiana Department of Mental Health and Addiction, which was made available through funding during the 2023 Indiana Legislative session under SB1.