County Cuts The Ribbon On New Mental Health Diversion Center In Doylestown

DOYLESTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — The Bucks County Commissioners on Wednesday cut the ribbon on the county's new state-of-the-art Diversion, Assessment, Restoration, and Treatment (DART) Center on Almshouse Road in Doylestown Township.

Built at the former site of the Bucks County Women’s Community Corrections Center at 1270 Almshouse Road, the new DART Center is designed to serve adults in the criminal justice system suffering from mental illness and to divert them from further penetration into the system by reducing recidivism and supporting recovery through treatment and community support.

"Today is a really, really big deal," said Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, who has been a driving force behind the project.

"While I am filled with so much gratitude that we are here today and the building is open, I am also reflective of the many people who did not get to benefit from this program - so many people who bore the burden of a substandard mental health system only to see it torn down in the 1980s and replaced with nothing so the jails have become the defacto treatment for people with serious mental illness for four decades," said Ellis-Marseglia.

"A shoutout to our corrections officers who, for years, without resources and training, have tried to hold those seriously mentally ill people together," she continued. "Bucks County has tried and has wanted to do something about this problem to get people diverted from the criminal justice system ... We've taken all kinds of steps to try and remove and divert people, but one important piece of the puzzle was missing - a place where everyone who has that serious mental illness can come and be diverted, be assessed, be restored and get treatment.

"I thought of wearing green today because that's the color of mental health, but instead I wore gold because that's the color of gratitude," said the commissioner. "And I have major gratitude for the people who brought this dream from concept to reality. I'd like to thank the designers, the engineers, the contractors, the construction managers and all the workers for having been so dedicated to the success of this building from the ground up.

"I also appreciate the police, the district attorney, and the lawyers who have the confidence in us that this will be a caring program, but that it will also be a competent program," said Ellis-Marseglia. "And I'm grateful for the leadership of the GEO Group (which will manage the new center) and all the workers who are about to take on this important challenge, and I just know you are going to rise to the occasion. And I have an unbelievable amount of gratitude to the individuals and families who will step in here and trust us to make them well."

The 23,000-square-foot facility will support up to 28 adults at any given time across its three units - a short-term observation unit, a restoration-to-competency unit, and a residential treatment facility.

The short-term observation unit will provide a safe place for assessment and initial access to treatment. The “restoration to competency” unit will assist those deemed in court to be incompetent to become competent and participate in due process legal proceedings. And the residential treatment facility will provide transitional housing with treatment and daily living skill development to support the successful transition to community living.

"Today marks an important milestone for Bucks County because we are not simply opening a building, we're opening a pathway to a more compassionate, effective approach to mental health and criminal justice," said Bernard A. Griggs Jr., the county's director of general services.

"The DART center is a new single-story facility designed as a community-based alternative to incarceration," said Griggs. "It provides treatment, stabilization, and reentry support for individuals with serious mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorders involved in the court system. It also serves as a step-down option for those transitioning from state hospitals or inpatient forensic care, ensuring continuity and long-term recovery."

According to statistics provided by Donna Duffy Grimm, the county's administrator of behavioral health and development, individuals with mental health issues spend more time incarcerated than the general population.

"In 2025, in our own Bucks County correctional facility, individuals with serious mental illness spent 50 percent longer incarcerated than the general population," she said. "And that doesn't take into account individuals who were taken out of the general population and sent to Norristown State Hospital for restoration to competency. When you add in those days when a person is still in custody, 80 percent longer with individuals with serious mental illness.

"So the vision was born for this center - a safe place in the community that can produce short-term effective stabilization, could do some restoration to competency, and provide a longer-term unit to help individuals get treatment, have therapy, but also skill development," said Grimm.

Bucks County has hired the GEO Group to manage day-to-day operations at the DART Center, with oversight from Grimm's behavioral health and development department.

“Right now, there’s a person, maybe more than one, who doesn’t even know that the DART Center exists. They are somewhere hard, in a cell somewhere, trying to get through another day [in a world] that has told them they’re too complicated to help,” said Dr. Mathew Abraham, Senior Director of Treatment and Program Development for GEO. “That person is going to find their way here, and when they do, they will walk through a door that says, ‘We see you, you are worth all of this.’”

Located on the grounds of the former Women’s Community Corrections Center, construction on the DART began in late 2023.

The total projected cost to build the facility is about $19.8 million. The county has paid for the construction with a combination of mostly federal and state funds, with about $1.8 million coming from the county’s General Fund.

General contracting work on the project was performed by Magnum, Inc., with architecture services by USA Architects, engineering by Carroll Engineering and Windward, electrical work by the Farfield Company, mechanical services by Integrity Mechanical, Inc., plumbing services by Vision Mechanical, fire protection work by Guy M. Cooper Mechanical and construction management by Jingoli.

Commissioner Vice Chair Bob Harvie, speaking Wednesday to a crowd of county officials and community stakeholders gathered to mark the DART’s opening, reflected on the questions that drove the facility’s planning years before its construction.

“What could we do on this spot that could make a difference?” he said. “What can we do on this spot that has meaning for people who really need help at a time that might be the lowest in their lives, that serves a purpose, and helps law enforcement and the criminal justice system appropriately handle people who shouldn’t be in a prison, but end up there because there is nowhere else to go?”

The center's short-term assessment and stabilization program track is designed to support adults who are experiencing mental health challenges, including co-occurring intellectual disabilities/autism and substance use disorders and have been diverted from the criminal justice system.

The average length of stay at the center will be from 24 hours to two weeks as individuals undergo psychiatric assessment, medication management, counseling, case management, nursing, and peer support.

"This will be a safe place, which reduces fear, inspires hope, and empowers life," said Grimm.