Crisis Stabilization Facility

The Crisis Stabilization Facility provides services to adults who are experiencing a mental health crisis, or who are in need of withdrawal management services, and helps them restore and stabilize their health.

The stabilization facility offers an alternative to hospitalization or arrest. It is also a clear point of access to mental health and substance use services in Whatcom County.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a behavioral health crisis and would like support, these local resources are available to you:

Facility Expansion

In 2015 the Whatcom County Council identified increasing the capacity of the Crisis Stabilization Facility as a key priority and tasked the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force with developing a plan. Whatcom County began a project in late 2017 to design a larger facility with expanded services. The $9.5 million expansion project is funded through a combination of support from the Washington State capital budget, the North Sound Behavioral Health Organization, and the Whatcom County Behavioral Health Fund.

Learn more about the expansion project.

About the Crisis Stabilization Facility

Who uses the Whatcom County Stabilization Facility?

Adults experiencing a crisis due to mental illness or substance use disorder who need a safe, supportive setting to stabilize.

How is it paid for?

The North Sound Behavioral Health Organization covers the majority of operating costs. Medicaid and state dollars fund the services. Managed Care Organizations, also known as Health Plans, will cover most of the expenses as of July 1, 2019.

What are the current challenges?

As the only facility of this type in Whatcom County with just thirteen beds, the current triage center needs more capacity. When beds are unavailable people needing treatment end up at the hospital, in jail, or back on the streets.

What is being done to expand capacity?

The new project will expand the current facility to 32 beds: 16 for voluntary crisis triage and 16 more for voluntary detox services. The increased space is expected to be about 12,000 square feet larger than the present facility.