Bucks County is opening a new mental health treatment center designed to prevent adults with serious mental illness from cycling through the criminal justice system and to provide treatment for those already incarcerated.
Facility Overview
The Diversion, Assessment, Restoration and Treatment Center (DART) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday and is expected to open by mid-March. Located near the county’s correctional facility complex on Almshouse Road in Doylestown Township, DART is a 23,000-square-foot facility that can accommodate 28 adults in three distinct units.
Three Treatment Areas
DART will provide support in three key areas: a short-term observation unit for assessment and initial access to treatment; a “restoration to competency” unit to assist those the court deems incompetent to become competent and participate in their legal matters; and a residential treatment unit offering transitional housing with treatment. Staff will teach daily living skills and provide support as people transition to community living. Stays will vary from weeks to a year.
Need and Context
According to Dr. Matthew Abraham, senior director with GEO Group, Inc., a Florida-based private corporation that invested in DART, the center is designed to help prevent “endless cycling” of those with serious mental illness from one jail, hospital, or homeless shelter to another institution. Between 2022 and 2023, two incarcerated people with mental illness sued the county, alleging mistreatment in the county jail. In 2022, there were three deaths by suicide in the correctional facility. Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia stated the county is “in dire need of more mental health services across the board, but particularly in the criminal justice system.”
Funding
The total projected cost for DART is $19.8 million, funded through “braided funding” including $1.8 million from Bucks County’s general fund, $4.9 million from the American Rescue Plan, and various state behavioral funding sources.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.buckscountyherald.com/news/health-wellness/groundbreaking-mental-health-treatment-center-opening-in-bucks-county/article_fa476a43-55bb-40cd-8cd8-34833e090f0f.html