WATERLOO (KWWL) -
People struggling with mental health issues have a new place to get help in Black Hawk County.
The Adult Crisis Stabilization Center or ACSC is located in one wing of the North Iowa Juvenile Facility on West Dunkerton Road in Waterloo.
The ACSC is a direct result of Iowa's mental health redesign. Patients can be referred from three local hospitals, or private physicians. The short-term stay facility is meant to keep patients from spending too much time in the emergency room or county jail, instead getting them connected to treatment quickly.
"When the real presenting problem is a social stressor, a relationship conflict, the need for substance abuse treatment, this gives us an opportunity to give those folks a more appropriate level of information. It gives them some time to reflect on what their needs are and then gives them a place where they can access those resources based on what they've shared with us," said Bob Lincoln, County Social Services Administrator.
The ACSC has 10 patient beds and is the first center of its kind in the state, so it's hoped to be a model for mental health service delivery.
Most patients stay three to four days and are discharged when staff deem appropriate. Existing state funds are being used to pay for the facility's operations, by pooling monies from a 17-county consortium of mental health services.
.
