What is a crisis center?

Crisis centers in Utah (for adults)
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1McKay Dee Access Center (Ogden)
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2Davis Behavioral Health (Layton)
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3Wasatch Behavioral Health (Provo)
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4Huntsman Mental Health Institute (Salt Lake City)
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5Southwest Behavioral Health (Hurricane)
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6Four Corners Crisis Receiving Center (Price)
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7Cache County—should open sometime in 2025-2026

Youth crisis centers in Utah
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1Cache Valley Youth Center (Logan)
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2Weber Valley Youth Center (Ogden)
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3Farmington Bay Youth Center (Farmington)
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4Salt Lake County Youth Services (Salt Lake City)
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5Vantage Point (JJYS contracted, Provo)
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6Iron County Youth Center (Cedar City)
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7Washington County Youth Center (Hurricane)
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8Split Mountain Youth Center (Vernal)
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9Castle Country Youth Center (Price)
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10Central Utah Youth Center (Richfield)
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11Canyonlands Youth Center (Blanding)
You should go to a crisis center if you're worried you or someone else can't safely be at home right now, or don't have somewhere safe to go. Crisis centers provide supervision and care for challenges related to substance use, and emotional or mental health 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Crisis centers are a good option when you need immediate help with challenges related to emotional
or mental health, or substance use, but don’t need to be hospitalized. Crisis centers are staffed by
trained experts like psychiatrists, nurses, therapists, and peer support specialists. You only stay
at a crisis center for one day (24 hours or less). Staff will help you find other resources for
ongoing care before you leave. Most crisis centers are designed to feel more like a living room or
home environment, and less like a hospital. At a crisis center you’ll also be able to talk to people
with similar experiences, who are there to listen and help.
Emergency room visits can be expensive, have long wait times, and they see patients with
many different needs. That means emergency rooms may need to see patients who have other medical
needs, like accidents or serious medical conditions before they see patients with needs related to
emotional, mental health, or substance use. Emergency rooms also may not have mental health
professionals working all the time.
It's hard to make decisions in a crisis. The 988 hotline, mobile crisis outreach teams, and crisis centers are all great options to help when you're struggling. However, there are many reasons they may not be the right choice, depending on the situation. Sometimes you may need to call 911 or go to the emergency room. Here are a few examples of times when you or someone you're worried about should call 911 or go to the emergency room (this should not be considered a complete list):
- Need immediate help in an emergency or life-threatening situation.
- Don't live close enough to a receiving center, or a mobile crisis outreach team isn't able to get there in time.
- Not safe to yourself or others.
- Worried someone has overdosed.
No. You can go to a crisis center anytime you need help and a safe place to go. Mobile crisis outreach teams will leave after a few hours. A crisis center may be the best place to go if you feel you need to be monitored or still need support.
Most crisis centers throughout the state are free. However, there is a cost for some crisis centers. Make sure to ask if there is a charge before you go. 988 crisis workers can help you find a crisis center near you.
Most crisis centers are voluntary, depending on the facility (which means you can leave whenever you want). Crisis centers are for short-term care (typically less than a day).
Yes. However, crisis centers for youth are a different service from those for adults and are limited
in the number of youth they can serve at a time. Most youth centers are part of a Juvenile Justice
and Youth Services (JJYS) center. JJYS centers often have access to trained clinicians who provide
stabilization services while the youth is there, but they are not staffed with psychiatric
providers.
Youth crisis centers in Utah:
Cache Valley Youth Center (Logan)
Weber Valley Youth Center (Ogden)
Farmington Bay Youth
Center (Farmington)
Salt Lake County Youth Services (Salt Lake City)
Vantage Point
(Provo)
Iron County Youth Center (Cedar City)
Washington County Youth Center
(Hurricane)
Split Mountain Youth Center (Vernal)
Castle Country Youth Center (Price)
Central
Utah Youth Center (Richfield)
Canyonlands Youth Center (Blanding)
Crisis respite centers (sometimes called peer respite centers) are safe places you can go if you
don’t need to be hospitalized but need to stay somewhere longer than a day, like at a receiving
center. Respite centers are set up more like a home, with peer specialists who have had similar
experiences to listen and offer support. It’s free and you don’t have to have proof of insurance or
citizenship to go there. You can stay for up to 1 week at a crisis respite center. Right now,
there’s only 1 crisis respite center in Utah located in Salt Lake County.
Mental Health
America Peer Respite Center
Salt Lake
801-810-6522
150 South 600 East #3B