New Provider Chosen for Cumberland BH Crisis Services

As part of its ongoing commitment to ensuring 24/7 access to high-quality behavioral health crisis assessment and intervention services, Alliance Health has chosen a new provider of these services in Cumberland County. After a competitive bidding process, RI International was selected to assume operations of the Alliance Crisis and Assessment Center located at 1724 Roxie Avenue in Fayetteville.

RI International, a national leader in developing and providing recovery-oriented behavioral health and substance use disorder crisis services, has been operating crisis assessment and stabilization services since 1990 and currently operates state of the art crisis programs across four states. This includes the Recovery Response Centers in Henderson and Jacksonville as well as the Durham Recovery Response Center, which serves as the Alliance Crisis and Assessment Center in that community.

According to David Covington, CEO and president of RI International, their NC-based facilities serve thousands of people in psychiatric distress each year through a program designed to maximize successful return to the community and defer hundreds of avoidable visits to hospital emergency departments. “We aim to ensure that anyone in crisis has access to a safe, supportive environment staffed with behavioral health professionals, helping people navigate their most challenging times.”

Like the Durham facility, the facility on Roxie Avenue will provide crisis services employing the peer-operated “living room model” and will be available to receive individuals who walk in seeking crisis assistance as well as those brought in under involuntary commitment orders. In addition to crisis assessment services, it will offer 23-hour observation, detoxification, and short-term crisis stabilization services delivered by a team of peer support specialists, and medical, behavioral and substance use disorder treatment professionals.

“I applaud the selection of RI International to provide 24/7 crisis services in Cumberland County,” said Alliance Board member Chris Bostock of Fayetteville. “In addition to their national reputation and long history in this field, their “no wrong door approach” will help ensure that our local law enforcement officers have a single destination to bring people who are experiencing a crisis. Our local residents will have access to state of the art crisis assessment, detoxification and behavioral health stabilization services.”

Alliance’s Crisis and Assessment Center in Cumberland County has been operated since 2013 by Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. The target date for RI to assume operations is August of this year and Alliance has already begun to collaborate with Cape Fear Valley and RI to plan and execute a smooth transition for the individuals that count on the Roxie Avenue facility for crisis services.

“Alliance Health is excited about the comprehensive array of recovery-based crisis services that RI will provide to the Cumberland community,” said Alliance CEO Rob Robinson. “We are grateful to Cape Fear Valley for their contributions to serving individuals with mental health and substance use disorders since 2013 and for their commitment to ensuring a smooth transition to RI.”