Designing a compassionate recovery-oriented care facility for individuals experiencing behavioral health and substance use emergencies

Location
King County, Washington
Offices
Client
  • Connections Health Solutions
Partners
  • VBFA
  • Buehler
  • Skyline Builders
Award
2024, Senior Health News Architecture & Design Awards: Winner Behavioral Health-Outpatient Nominee

Connections Health Solutions - Kirkland Crisis Response Center

To better serve their communities, the North King County Coalition (comprised of Bothell, Kenmore, Kirkland, Lake Forest Park, and Shoreline) and King County needed to expand access to critically needed behavioral health crisis care resources. To help them, we set out to design King County’s first behavioral health crisis response center operated by Connections Health Solutions.

The Connections Kirkland facility serves up to 14,000 individuals each year. The new crisis center offers mental health urgent care, a 23-hour stabilization unit, and two 16 bed units for longer-term, sub-acute care. It provides compassionate recovery-oriented care for individuals experiencing behavioral health and substance use emergencies, with an emphasis on connecting people to ongoing care and community resources.

King County also commissioned us to leverage our international expertise in crisis care design to consult and develop their new behavioral health design standards. These design standards are the basis for all future crisis system’s facilities—providing for a unique, trauma-informed strategy based on a “no wrong door” policy approach that links individuals with appropriate services regardless of where they enter the system of care.

The recommended psych-safe products and device selections provide a consistent approach to mitigating risk in these unique facilities, as well as streamlining procurement and long-term maintenance of these high-intensity crisis centers. The centers strive to avoid coercion and reinforce the care culture that King County aspires to as it treats adults and youth in crisis, while maintaining staff safety, visitor comfort, and patient care.

This treatment-focused center will provide care when individuals need it most—helping to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and lessening the burden on the judicial system.

Location
King County, Washington
Offices
Client
  • Connections Health Solutions
Partners
  • VBFA
  • Buehler
  • Skyline Builders
Award
2024, Senior Health News Architecture & Design Awards: Winner Behavioral Health-Outpatient Nominee

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