Our Services

The Urgent Crisis Center offers crisis stabilization support, comprehensive mental health assessments, short-term medication services (if indicated and urgently needed), collaborative safety planning, and thoughtful connection and coordination with on-going mental health and informal support services for youth 4-18 years old. 

 

The UCC is a voluntary program that requires parent/guardian consent, presence, and participation; youth involved in a UCC assessment must also assent to services.  There are no beds in the UCC; our goal is to de-escalate the crisis, complete the evaluation and connect you to services in under 24 hours.

 

What are some reasons a youth might come to the UCC?

• Thoughts of suicide or self-injury

• Feelings of depression, anxiety, or hopelessness

• Behaviors that have been escalating in danger/risk in the home, school, or community

• Misuse or experimentation with substances

• Changes in a youth’s presentation or affect that is dramatic or concerning

• Conflict with family members or in the community

• Any situation that a youth or family defines as an urgent mental health crisis.

 

What to expect

Youth must be accompanied by a parent and/or legal guardian when visiting the UCC.  Parents and guardians are expected to stay on-site with their child throughout the duration of their UCC visit  (If a youth is brought in by Police or Ambulance transport, the parent/guardian must be available by phone to consent to the evaluation and must arrive at the UCC within a defined period of time).

Our team will reach out to existing providers to coordinate care and review recommendations.  Families should come with contact information for their youth’s primary care provider, school and mental health providers. 

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A visit to the UCC may take several or many hours and we encourage you to bring any medications that the youth may need to avoid missing a dose while on site.  Additionally, we allow families to bring snacks if they wish.

 

Once onsite, your visit will include:

 

• Triage:  The UCC Nurse will take your vital signs and ask you a few questions to get a general sense of why you have come to the UCC.  The Nurse will work to ensure that the youth’s needs are appropriate for the UCC.

• Registration:  Our staff will check you into the UCC, complete consents for treatment, confirm insurance, and sign releases to allow for collaboration with your current community providers and supports.  If you are a legal guardian, please be sure to bring your guardianship papers with you. 

• Stabilization:  A Mental Health Clinician and Family Support Worker will help to de-escalate your child.  They will use crisis intervention skills to address the youth’s concerns, encourage the use of coping skills and calming strategies, and engage the youth (and your family) in creating a safe space for assessment.

• Assessment/Intervention:  You will meet with a multidisciplinary team, including a Nurse, Mental Health Clinician, Family Support Worker, and Care Coordinator to evaluate the youth’s/family’s current and immediate crisis concerns.  The Clinician will take the opportunity to do a more thorough evaluation of your child’s history, development, learning, and behavior.  The Care Coordinator and Family Support Worker will talk with you about additional support you or your child may need to assist your family after your discharge from the UCC.  A senior leader of the UCC (Clinician, Advanced Practice Nurse Practitioner(APRN), or Physician’s Assistant(PA)) consults on every case and may be directly involved in assisting the family.

• Medication Assessment:  If clinically indicated and urgently needed, we have the capacity to provide medication evaluation.  We have child psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and/or physician’s assistants available for consultation for complex presentations; in some situations, the medical team may prescribe medications to help stabilize the crisis. 

• Direct linkages to ongoing care:  The Care Coordinator or Family Support Worker will help you to connect to resources in your community that will support the youth after their discharge from the UCC.  This may include reviewing recommendations with current providers or helping your family connect with new services.  They may also provide assistance with various community resources, programs, and concrete services that may be helpful to your family.

• Safety planning and discharge:  The UCC team will meet with you to discuss all they have learned from you and your family and sketch out an initial safety plan.  Members of the team will work with you to review and add your thoughts to the safety plan before finalizing it.  Safety plans will include clear steps to keep the environment safe (locking up knives/weapons/medications), coping skills or calming strategies to try in the case of another crisis, and direct links to clinical and informal supports in your community.  The safety plan may also include a referral to Mobile Crisis Services for follow-up calls or home visits to support you and your family.

• Follow-up Connections:  Upon discharge from the UCC, the team will give you a copy of the safety plan and all contact information for direct linkages and suggested resources in your community.  The Family Support Worker or Care Coordinator will call after your discharge to follow up with you about your time at the UCC.  Time-limited collaborative work with community providers may occur with your permission until your connection to the new providers has been established.

 

Insurance

We strive to maintain a high degree of accessibility and quality at an affordable cost.  We participate with most insurance companies including CT Medicaid (HUSKY) and will work with commercial insurance companies to best utilize any available insurance benefits. 

 

For specific billing and insurance questions, please call 203-574-9000 x1170.

 

For clients with no insurance coverage, we offer a reduced fee sliding scale based on income and household members.  Please inquire at the front desk when registering for the UCC

 

Directions

The Urgent Crisis Center is located at Wellmore’s Child Service Building, located at 141 East Main Street in Waterbury, CT.  Families will be greeted in the lobby of the building and a UCC Nurse will come to meet you in the Triage area.  You will then be brought upstairs to the 3rd floor for assessment and coordination of care. 

 

There is on-site parking in a gated lot.  Please pull a ticket from the kiosk and bring it in with you for validation.  You do not need to pay for parking.