Urgent Psychiatric Care For Adults — Opening March 2025
When the doors of the Kem and Carolyn Gardner Crisis Care Center open in March 2025, it will be a welcoming place for all adults. The Center will help individuals de-escalate, stabilize, and connect to community resources catered to their individual mental health needs. The Center will help people facing a psychiatric crisis get on the path to mental wellness by unifying critical crisis services and many community resources in one easy-to-access location. The building design and operations will ensure patients and their families feel welcome, respected, and secure throughout every step of their care.
Researchers will work alongside clinicians, patients and their families to develop evidence-based best practices for treatment and care and develop new approaches for helping people. It will also be a site for training future generations of crisis care professionals including social workers, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, and many more.
Care & Treatment Personalized to Your Needs
Crisis services and stabilizing treatment will be individualized to meet each patient's unique needs.
23-hour treatment and observation stay
For those in our 30-bed Receiving Center
Short-term, rapid stabilization
Inpatient treatment in our 24-bed acute care unit
Medication-assisted treatment clinic
For individuals with opiate use disorders
Intensive outpatient treatment
For adults needing support for substance use disorders
Mental health day treatment
For adults that need more help than traditional outpatient care
"The Kem and Carolyn Gardner Crisis Care Center is going to be a leading-edge facility. The partnerships we have brought together and the plan to integrate community services, research, and training are not being done anywhere else. The programs and collaboration that will occur at the Center will ensure that patients and their families receive the absolute best immediate help and ongoing support in one convenient location."
Comprehensive Mental and Behavioral Health Services
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When the Crisis Care Center opens, the center's comprehensive behavioral and mental health crises services will include:
- Crisis management therapy
- Psychiatric assessment
- Medication management
- Wellness recovery
- Discharge planning
Coordinated Care from Compassionate Providers
Adults experiencing a mental or behavioral health emergency will be seen and treated by a team of multi-disciplinary professional staff, including:
- Licensed psychiatrists
- Advanced practice nurses
- Social workers
- Case managers
- Certified peer specialists
- Psychiatric technicians
Additional Support Services Through Community Partnership
In partnership with dozens of community stakeholders, an entire building floor will be dedicated to additional services to provide support for:
- Addressing legal issues that disrupt many families with a mental health crisis
- Unmet medical and dental care needs
- Intensive case management
- Connections to existing community resources and peer support
- Enrollment in programs like Medicaid, housing, employment
Meet Our Community Partners
Volunteers of America (VOA)
VOA Utah provides community-supported paths for those who are vulnerable to improve their lives and increase self-reliance. Programs offerings include emergency shelters for women and youth experiencing homelessness, mental health & addiction treatment, and prevention services, which help youth build life skills and positive peer connections.
University Neighborhood Partners (UNP)
University Neighborhood Partners will be partnering with the Kem & Carolyn Gardner Mental Health Crisis Care Center in order to foster better relationships within the community and to break down barriers.
Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness (USARA)
Utah Support Advocates for Recover Awareness (USARA) creates an environment of ease and comfort for those struggling with addiction issues.
Tracy Aviary Jordan River Nature Center
The Tracy Aviary Jordan River Nature Center inspires curiosity through nature and will provide a haven and an open space for mental health conversations to take place.
Men’s Resource Center
The Men’s Resource Center is partnering with the Kem & Carolyn Gardner Mental Health Crisis Care Center to help provide those experiencing homelessness with a safe and dignified path back into a stable living situation and back to being productive members of the community.
Salt Lake County Jail Resource Re-entry Program
The Kem & Carolyn Gardner Mental Health Crisis Care Center is partnering with the Salt Lake County Jail Resource Re-entry Program (JRRP), a new initiative aimed at helping recently released inmates access resources and support to productively and safely reintegrate into society.
Where Will the Center Be Located?
The Center will be located at Huntsman Mental Health Institute's Campus of Hope on 955 West 3300 South
South Salt Lake, UT 84119 between the Salt Lake County Jail and the South Salt Lake Men’s Homeless Resource Center.
Huntsman Mental Health Institute
Campus of Hope
955 West 3300 South
South Salt Lake, UT 84119
News & Resources
News
Utah Philanthropic Community Bolsters State and County Investment to Address State’s Most Pressing Health Issue
Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation Gifts $3.5 Million to Mental Health Crisis Care
HMHI Celebrates $5 Million Donation and Unveiling of the Crisis Care Center
Resources
Fact Sheet
Download a one-page overview about the Crisis Care Center programming and services.
2022 Annual Report
Huntsman Mental Health Institute 2022 Annual Report
Need Additional Information?
Contact us with questions regarding planning, programming, or construction.
Please note: Do not use for patient inquiries, call 801-583-2500.
"This center is so needed in our state. Carolyn and I are pleased to join the University, state legislature, Salt Lake County, and the Huntsman family in this important effort."
About Kem and Carolyn Gardner
After attending an event celebrating the groundbreaking of the new Mental Health Crisis Care Center in South Salt Lake, Carolyn and Kem Gardner made a generous $5 million gift to support the Center and expand the facility to include more programs and services.
The Gardners have a long history of supporting the University of Utah and are both actively engaged in other community service and philanthropic work. From Intermountain Healthcare, United Way, and the Utah Symphony, and especially the University, the Gardners’ influence and generosity are reflected across the state of Utah.
You can positively impact the lives of those in a mental health crisis.
Donate TodayConstruction Progress Updates
The design and operations are an ongoing collaborative process between Huntsman Mental Health Institute, University of Utah Health, and dozens of community partners, state and government leaders, researchers, and trainees across many disciplines. The Center is being designed by FFKR Architects and will be built by Okland Construction.
Topping Out Ceremony (August 2023)
Official Press Release
Utah Philanthropic Community Bolsters State and County Investment to Address State's Most Pressing Health Issue
In the News
"Advocates, policymakers celebrate building progress of Crisis Care Center in Salt Lake County"
Groundbreaking Event (May 2021)
Official Press Release
A Place for Healing and Hope: Huntsman Mental Health Institute Breaks Ground on Mental Health Crisis Care Center
In the News
"Upgraded Huntsman crisis care center offers increased hope for patients battling mental illness"
HMHI's Crisis Intervention & Support Services
Our programs compliment the many crisis services already provided by Huntsman Mental Health Institute.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Mental Health Crisis Care Center is a central hub for adults experiencing a self-defined mental health crisis to receive a free evaluation, individualized crisis stabilization, and connection to ongoing care. The facility has been carefully designed to be a place for healing for all types of crises compassionately, effectively, safely, and in the least restrictive manner required to meet the patient's needs. In addition to crisis-specific services, this facility will also provide short-term stabilization and inpatient care. The Mental Health Crisis Care Center will provide transitional outpatient services commonly needed following a mental health crisis, including medication-assisted treatment for those struggling with chemical dependency, recovery-focused intensive outpatient care, mental health-focused day treatment, and case management. In collaboration with community partners, patients will also have access to legal care, dental care, primary care, and other resources commonly helpful to families experiencing a crisis.
The construction timeline is currently projecting the building to open in Spring 2025.
Huntsman Mental Health Institute (HMHI) and University of Utah Health are not just building a building. We are working to create a program and services that meet the unique needs of our community. To this end, we have engaged hundreds of community groups, patients, and other stakeholders in conversations and focus groups to better understand our community's needs and incorporate input into the programming of the building and the design. We have engaged consultants with expertise in mental health facility design to ensure that what we building is welcoming, honors the humanity of those who enter, and facilitates safe and effective care. We have engaged with research partners to integrate public health, economic impact, and clinical quality data seamlessly into our program. This will allow us to be accountable to our funding sources, our community, and those who receive care here. It will help us constantly evaluate our work and continuously improve it. We have also engaged educational experts to integrate training our next generation of mental health crisis care providers and researchers into everything we do.
No, the Mental Health Crisis Care Center will serve ALL adults 18 and over and provide critical mental health care to our community's homeless population. The facility and services are designed to provide crisis care flexibly and individualized to the unique needs of each person who walks through our doors. For our guests experiencing homelessness, the Mental Health Crisis Care Center will provide critical mental health care, resources, and connections to other services that will help them gain the stability necessary to seek a more permanent housing situation. Research has shown homeless individuals who have stability in health, mental health, recovery, employment, and re-engagement with family and the community will seek the safety and stability of a place they call home.
The Mental Health Crisis Care Center will be a welcoming environment for all adults 18 and over. An individual can walk in with a self-defined crisis and community providers can refer patients to the Center. Emergency responders and law enforcement will also bring people to the Mental Health Crisis Care Center using a dedicated entrance designed to safely treat at-risk community members to avoid unnecessary jail or emergency room visits.
You should take your child or adolescent to the emergency room (ER) for mental health care if they are an imminent danger to themselves or to others.
If your child or adolescent is not in an immediate or life-threatening situation, you can seek help in several ways by:
- Call HMHI at 801-583-2500. Our supportive staff is available to answer questions and determine the right course of treatment for your child or teenager.
- Call 988 for 24/7 free, confidential support for mental health, substance use, or suicidal crisis (services provided by the Utah Crisis Line in association with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline).
- Use the SafeUT app to chat via text with a mental health counselor.
Crisis stabilization services are funded by county, state, and federal funds. Any adult in crisis will be seen regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. No one will receive a bill for the crisis stabilization services. Inpatient care and transitional outpatient services provided at the Mental Health Crisis Care Center will be billed to insurance. It is recommended that before using these services you consult your insurance provider to understand the fees associated with utilizing these additional services.
We are always looking to partner and collaborate. If you would like to chat with a Mental Health Crisis Care Center development team member about a collaborative opportunity, please submit an inquiry form here.
Please share feedback or ask questions through the inquiry form.