>>Hartford children’s mental health urgent crisis center opens

Hartford’s first urgent walk-in crisis center for children’s mental health help opened its doors this week, welcoming kids and teens who need immediate outpatient mental health care.

The new Urgent Crisis Center opened at The Village for Families and Children at 1680 Albany Ave. — a long-standing space for mental health support and youth development in greater Hartford — providing outpatient services for people under 18 years old who are experiencing mental or behavioral health emergencies, like thoughts of self harm, anxiety or substance misuse.

The center’s opening was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday with leaders from The Village, Department of Children and Families Commissioner Vanessa Dorantes, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, Governor Ned Lamont and others.

“The mental health needs of children is an urgent issue that must be treated just as we do for any other public health situation,” said Lamont at the opening. “These children’s urgent crisis centers are being created to provide an immediate and direct resource to families whenever a behavioral health situation arises among children and teens. The centers will provide intensive assessment, stabilization, and ongoing connection to care.”

The center the capacity to help 19 patients at a time and is currently open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., with plans to eventually be open 24/7.