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New Stephen M. Morris Behavioral Health Center to Transform Crisis Care
for Partners Members in Cabarrus County

Six people smiling and cutting a ribbon at a building

Cabarrus County Behavioral Health Director Kamilah McKissick, Cabarrus County Commissioner Vice Chair, Ian Patrick, Commissioner Kenneth Wortman, Concord Mayor and former Cabarrus County Commissioner Stephen M. Morris, Monarch CEO Peggy Terhune, and Assistant County Manager Aelece Pugh celebrate the opening of the Stephen M. Morris Behavioral Health Center.

Partners Health Management today announces expanded access to critical mental health and substance use disorder services for its members following the opening of the Stephen M. Morris Behavioral Health Center in Concord, North Carolina.

A public ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours were held on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, at the new 59,300-square-foot facility located at 925 Progress Place NE in Concord.

Monarch, a Partners provider, in partnership with Cabarrus County, will operate the center, which represents a major step forward in community-based crisis intervention. Designed with a “no wrong door” approach to behavioral health, the center is a highly innovative, integrated facility that consolidates triage, short-term stabilization and long-term residential treatment under a single roof.

For Partners Health Management members, the center provides a highly accessible, specialized alternative to traditional hospital emergency departments, ensuring that individuals receive immediate, appropriate care in a safe and supportive environment.

“The Stephen M. Morris Behavioral Health Center represents years of vision, partnership and dedication by Cabarrus County, Monarch and many community leaders who shared a common goal of strengthening behavioral health services for this region,” said Partners Deputy CEO Rachel Porter. “It is an extraordinary investment in the health and well-being of individuals and families in Cabarrus County and the surrounding region. We are honored to join our community partners in celebrating this important milestone and the positive impact it will have on the individuals, families and communities we are privileged to serve.”

The new center pioneers a seamless continuum of care, ensuring pediatric patients and adults can transition between care levels without the disruption of leaving their local community. This prevents the common challenge of young people being transported to distant, out-of-county facilities. The center achieves this by co-locating multiple levels of specialized care, including:

  • Adult and Youth Behavioral Health Urgent Care (BHUC): Walk-in centers open 24/7 that provide immediate triage, clinical assessments, and 23-hour crisis support for individuals needing urgent stabilization.
  • Youth Facility-Based Crisis (FBC): A 16-bed acute crisis unit offering short-term care (typically five to seven days) to help children and teens stabilize in a secure, therapeutic environment.
  • Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF): Full-time, in-house residential care divided into three 8-bed units for pediatric patients requiring longer-term therapeutic support and skills development.

Concord Mayor Stephen Morris began working to bring this new center to fruition during his tenure as a Cabarrus County commissioner.

“The services that will be delivered in this building will change lives in our community,” Morris said during his speech at the ribbon cutting. “For years, if a child in our community had a mental health crisis, they faced nightmare upon nightmare. The child would be put in a law enforcement vehicle and sometimes driven miles and miles and miles away. That ends here. Now a family in crisis can walk through these doors and the help they need is available right here at home.”

Kelly Crosbie, MSW, LCSW, is the Director of the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Use Services, and also attended Tuesday’s ribbon cutting. “We’ve been working at establishing more centers like this across the state, but you all did this yourself,” Crosbie said. “I’m here to congratulate this extraordinary community for what you are doing for your community and folks here in North Carolina. Thank you for being an inspiration. Thank you for being a (source of) hope for me and for families like mine. Thank you for all the good work that is going to come out of here.”

The new Concord facility joins a regional network of established crisis centers operating throughout the 15-county Partners’ catchment area. This regional network ensures that members are never far from urgent assistance and includes 24/7 BHUCs in Winston-Salem, N.C., as well as walk-in BHUCs in Gastonia, N.C., and Shelby, N.C., but the Concord facility is the first to bring all three service levels together in one building.

By deferring patients from inpatient hospital admissions to these specialized lower levels of care, the center helps Partners members begin the healing process more quickly while maintaining vital connections to their families.

ABOUT PARTNERS

Partners Health Management is a leading local management entity/managed care organization (LME/MCO), providing access to care for individuals in central and western North Carolina with the most complex health care needs. Partners manage Medicaid, state and local funding for mental health, substance use disorder, intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD), and traumatic brain injury (MH/SUD/IDD/TBI) services in our covered areas. On July 1, 2024, Partners began administering one of North Carolina’s four Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities Tailored Plans and managing members’ physical health and pharmacy services in addition to their behavioral health, I/DD and TBI services.

Partners is one of four LME/MCOs that are the cornerstone of North Carolina’s public MH/SUD/IDD/TBI managed care system, which is designed to improve quality and timely access to care for individuals and families. Established by the General Assembly in 2011, the LME/MCOs are built on a 50-year legacy of county area programs with deep local, community roots. The LME/MCOs ensure access to high-quality provider networks, strong community collaboration to support a robust system of care, and budget predictability through the efficient and effective use of public funds and resources.