New Honesdale facility offers 24/7 walk-in care, 8-bed residential program — at no cost to patients

HONESDALE — In a county where the suicide rate runs double Pennsylvania’s average, Wayne County has opened its first dedicated mental health crisis center — a $9 million facility designed to catch people before they fall through the cracks of a fractured rural mental health system.

The Northeast Regional Crisis Stabilization Center at 100 Park Street held its ribbon cutting Friday, December 12, after years of planning and a year of construction. The facility represents the most significant mental health infrastructure investment in Wayne County’s history.

“The citizens of Wayne and Pike counties and the surrounding areas have not had this level of care,” said John Nebzydoski, Wayne County’s behavioral health director. “With this nice facility, ease of access, no cost to anybody receiving treatment here, I think people will be a little more apt to get help when they need it.”

The Numbers That Drove This Project

Wayne County’s suicide rate stands at 31.2 per 100,000 residents — nearly double Pennsylvania’s statewide average of 15.7. Neighboring Pike County isn’t far behind at 25 per 100,000.

These aren’t abstract statistics. In Pike County alone, 11 people died by suicide in 2020, an increase of six over the previous year.

Rural Pennsylvania faces a mental health crisis compounded by geography. The Center for Rural Pennsylvania found that in 2018, suicide rates in rural counties ran 25% higher than urban counties — and the gap has been widening for a decade.

Part of the problem: access. Rural Pennsylvania counties have 41% fewer mental health providers than urban areas. Before this facility opened, the nearest psychiatric hospitals to Wayne County were in Moosic or Kingston. Some patients ended up transported to Philadelphia.

“A lot of people would kind of just try to get through it,” said Victoria Toomey, outreach coordinator for Center for Community Resources. “I think more and more people are realizing that your mental health is part of your physical health, too.”

Two Programs Under One Roof

The crisis center operates two distinct services from the renovated former doctor’s office on Park Street.

The first is a 24/7 walk-in crisis center — what officials describe as “urgent care for mental health.” Anyone experiencing a mental health crisis can walk in at any hour, meet with a crisis specialist, and receive immediate stabilization. The service is available to all ages, though children must be accompanied by a parent.

“If someone is feeling like they’d like to harm themselves or someone else, or just feeling unsafe, overwhelmed, anxiety, panic attacks — they can come here,” Nebzydoski explained.

The second program addresses a critical gap: what happens when someone isn’t safe to go home but doesn’t require locked inpatient psychiatric care. The facility includes an eight-bed crisis residential unit where adults 18 and older can stay up to five days while receiving support from mental health professionals.

“If somebody isn’t safe to go home from the crisis center quite yet, but they don’t necessarily need to be in a locked inpatient psychiatric unit, they can receive care in Honesdale rather than being shipped out to Moosic or Kingston,” Nebzydoski said.

The residential program is voluntary. Patients can leave. The goal is stabilization and connection to ongoing services — not detention.

Both programs are free. No insurance required. No bills sent home.

$9 Million, Multiple Funding Sources

The project’s financing tells its own story about what it takes to build rural mental health infrastructure.

In 2022, Wayne County partnered with Carbon-Monroe-Pike Mental Health and Developmental Services to apply for a state crisis grant. They received $5.9 million — but federal restrictions meant that money could only fund operations, not construction.

“Wayne County had to find other money to purchase and renovate the building,” Nebzydoski said.

The county assembled roughly $3 million from multiple sources: a federal HRSA appropriation secured by then-U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, a grant from the Moses Taylor Foundation, and other funding streams.

Cartwright, who lost his congressional seat in 2024, attended Friday’s ribbon cutting.

“This is a need. People go into crisis. Mental health crisis. Drug and alcohol addiction crisis,” Cartwright said. “These are not evil things. They’re not moral failings. They’re illnesses.”

The county purchased the building — a former doctor’s office — in 2024. Construction took approximately one year. The facility received its certificate of occupancy last week.

40 Staff, Plus Transportation

When fully operational, the center will employ about 40 people: crisis hotline workers, nurses, therapists, case managers, and peer support specialists.

County officials also confronted an uncomfortable reality about rural mental health: it doesn’t matter how good your facility is if people can’t get there.

“We budgeted quite a bit for transportation because we recognize the challenges of a rural area,” Nebzydoski said. “We purchased some vehicles and plan on getting people rides to and from the facility to lessen that burden.”

Wayne County spans 751 square miles with a population of roughly 51,000. Public transportation is virtually nonexistent. For someone in crisis in a remote township, getting to Honesdale could be the difference between receiving help and not.

What This Means for Monroe County

The facility exists because of a partnership between Wayne County and Carbon-Monroe-Pike Mental Health and Developmental Services — the agency serving Carbon, Monroe, and Pike counties.

“A big part of that is access to care and giving people in this community a place to go when they are in a mental health crisis so they aren’t having to travel a super far distance,” Toomey said.

While the facility is located in Honesdale, the partnership means the crisis services are designed to serve the broader region. Carbon-Monroe-Pike administrator Tina Clymer called it filling a void that has existed for years.

“The view for crisis is that people have somewhere to call, somewhere to go, and someone to respond,” Clymer said. “This is the somewhere to go.”

The Bigger Picture

The crisis center opens against a backdrop of worsening mental health indicators across Pennsylvania.

According to state data, over 2.3 million Pennsylvania adults reported poor mental health in 2022. Among adolescents, 15.6% experienced a major depressive episode — and 61% of them received no treatment.

Firearms were involved in 54% of Pennsylvania suicide deaths in 2022.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated trends that were already troubling. Isolation, economic stress, disrupted routines, and overwhelmed healthcare systems pushed more people toward crisis. Rural areas, with their pre-existing provider shortages, absorbed the impact with fewer resources.

Facilities like the Honesdale center represent one piece of a response. They can’t solve systemic workforce shortages or the social determinants that contribute to mental health crises. But they can ensure that when someone reaches the breaking point, there’s somewhere to go besides an emergency room — or nowhere at all.

How to Access Services

The Northeast Regional Crisis Stabilization Center is located at 100 Park Street, Honesdale.

Walk-in services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at no cost. The crisis residential program serves adults 18 and older.

The Wayne County Crisis Line remains available around the clock: 833-557-3224 (833-55-REACH).

Text support is available by texting 63288.

Services are free and confidential.

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If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, help is available. The national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 by calling or texting 988.