Bill to create crisis relief centers passes WA Senate Wednesday

OLYMPIA – SB 5120 passed the Washington Senate unanimously Wednesday, which would direct the Department of Health to license or certify crisis relief centers.

“Our state’s new 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a national model,” said Senator Manka Dhingra (D-Redmond), sponsor of the bill and chair of the Law and Justice Committee. “But with that model, we have to step up and deliver the services it promises to people in a mental health or substance use crisis.”

If enacted, the crisis relief centers the bill creates would be an alternative to emergency rooms and jails for people with behavioral health needs, according to a release by Washington State Senate Democrats.

The release also states behavioral health facilities in Washington require a cumbersome medical clearance process before accepting someone in crisis, which results in first responders’ taking them instead to places that do not use exclusionary criteria such as emergency rooms and jails. SB 5120 would establish a “no-wrong-door” framework for crisis relief centers, meaning that people in mental health and substance use crises would not be turned away. In these centers, people can get the short-term care they need and make connections to longer-term services that can help them reacclimate to a stable lifestyle.

SB 5120 now moves to the House for consideration.