The Hope Center Opens BHUC in Wake County

The Hope Center for Youth and Family Crisis, a partnership between Alliance Health and KidsPeace, has begun accepting and treating people in need at its location in Fuquay-Varina, NC. It is the first behavioral health crisis facility in central North Carolina designed exclusively for children and youth.

Behavioral health urgent care (BHUC) is a key component of Alliance’s overall crisis response continuum, and of The Hope Center’s unique model of integrated programming to address the growing need for crisis intervention and stabilization among youth in Wake and surrounding counties. The BHUC specialized programming is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and includes assessment, stabilization and treatment planning for youth in crisis and their families.

The Hope Center is located at 400 West Ransom Street near downtown Fuquay-Varina, on the former site of a hospital and rehabilitation center. An extensive renovation project was completed in the spring of 2023 to create a state-of-the-art facility that Alliance and KidsPeace say will set the standard for youth and family crisis services in North Carolina and other states.

The BHUC program at the Hope Center will accept youth four to 17 years of age who are referred by health care providers and first responders, as well as direct admissions requested by a young person’s caregivers. KidsPeace and Alliance officials note that BHUC is a clinically preferred  treatment alternative to a hospital emergency department for youth in mental health crisis, where they can receive more appropriate care for their mental health condition while relieving potential overcrowding at traditional ERs in the area.

The BHUC is the second of three sets of integrated services The Hope Center will soon provide to address mental and behavioral health crisis among the youth of the Alliance service area.

• In 2022 the Center launched its MORES program (Mobile Outreach Response Engagement Stabilization) in Wake, Durham, Johnston and Orange counties. MORES teams respond on location in the community to address immediate crisis issues in children 3 to 20 years of age to help families connect to community resources such as BHUC and reduce the need for hospitalizations and out-of-home placements. MORES services are available seven days a week from 10 am to 10:30 pm by calling KidsPeace at 484-215-6756. (Crisis services at other times can be accessed by calling the Alliance Health Behavioral Health Crisis Line at 877-223-4617.)

• The Hope Center’s third service area is a 16-bed Facility-Based Crisis (FBC) program at the West Ransom Street location, which will provide up to 14 days of inpatient crisis care for youth 6 to 17 years of age who are diagnosed as needing more intensive treatment for their condition. Officials at The Hope Center say the FBC program is currently undergoing state licensing review and will open as soon as all approvals have been obtained.

The Hope Center will ultimately employ more than 80 staff, ranging from psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses and psychologists to social workers, mental health technicians and operations staff. For information about employment opportunities at the Hope Center for Youth and Family Crisis, visit www.kidspeace.org/careers and click on the “North Carolina” selection.