Guilford County | Cone Health
Sandhills Behavioral Health Center
Three entities – Cone Health, Guilford County, and Sandhills Center – formed a unique partnership dedicated to expanding behavioral healthcare services in the community. The Guilford County Crisis Center is a place where anyone can receive walk-in care, residential treatment, and outpatient services.
Developed on a vacant property in Greensboro, NC, this center co-locates a Peer Center, Outpatient Center, a 16-chair Behavioral Health Urgent Care, and a 16-bed Adult Facility Based Crisis (FBC) Center. Providing integrated acute and behavioral healthcare the facility functions as a better alternative to an emergency department for urgent mental health crises. In an adjacent building, Sandhills Center is a 16-bed child and adolescent FBC Center. This new facility is operated by Cone Health and provide a state-of-the-art safe and therapeutic environment for mental health treatment.
LOCATION: Greensboro, NC
SIZE: 37,000 SF
COMPLETED: 2021
PHOTOGRAPHER: Keith Isaacs
A New Model for Care
Working with healthcare providers Cone Health and Alexander Youth Network, and with input from North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services, and architecture firms LS3P and TFF Architects, the team envisioned the Guilford County Crisis Center: a place where children, adolescents, and adults could come to receive walk-in care, residential treatment, and outpatient services. This innovative model of behavioral healthcare delivery is built upon best practices for providing integrated care while reducing stigma for those seeking behavioral healthcare. The means that patients seeking treatment for behavioral health conditions can also get assistance with routine medical needs such as managing blood pressure or refilling prescriptions for chronic conditions without having to visit multiple clinics.
Now we have a destination for someone where we know that they are going to begin their journey to recovery and stabilization.
Jim Albright | Emergency Services Director, Guilford County
Designing a Better Patient Experience
The design of the buildings conveys a sense of welcome, underscoring the message that each patient is valued and important. The team wanted the buildings to share a contemporary aesthetic in keeping with the “New Greensboro” vibe of the surrounding modern buildings that signal growth and investment in the area. Double-height lobbies filled with natural light, clerestories at the nursing stations, and a palette of therapeutic, enlivening, and vibrant colors all help to create a healing environment communicating that each patient matters, that these facilities deliver the same top-level patient care as any other medical facility, and that behavioral health is an important and valued part of holistic healing.
