Orange County officials symbolically broke ground for the mental health facility, Be Well OC, on Wednesday and will focus on mental health and drug addiction treatments. The facility is the first of its kind in the county when it opens in January of 2021 and will be located where the 22 freeway meets the Santa Ana River in Orange.
The campus is being developed by Mind OC, a non-profit made up of county officials, private sector hospitals and medical providers, who are charged with designing, building and running the facility. Currently the county has authorized $28 million to Mind OC for the facility’s development as well as major Orange County hospitals each donating $4 million for the cause . In addition, officials are looking to add two more Be Well locations in the county and an announcement of the second location could come as soon as next year.
Officials boast that this facility will be the first of its kind in the nation because it will provide mental health and drug addiction treatments to any resident in the county regardless of insurance provider. In fact, even those without insurance can receive treatment which would be paid by the state with Mental Health Services Act funds.
Once opened, the facility will be able to serve 95 people at one time and around 15,000 per year according to officials. Service available will include triage, mental health intake, drug addiction intake and referral, withdrawal management, residential treatment, transportation to outside appointments, a mental health crisis treatment center, and mobile teams that will respond to mental health crises in the community.
