Connections Health Solutions - Crisis Response Center
Crisis Response Center is a community resource serving Tucsonans in need.
About Connections Health Solutions - Crisis Response Center
Connections Health Solutions operates the Crisis Response Center in Tucson as a community resource for people experiencing behavioral health crises. The Tucson center provides care for youth and adults and is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Its services are designed to offer immediate support while connecting people with longer-term resources in their communities. The center's work includes walk-in mental health urgent care, crisis stabilization units, and post-acute services.
Connections describes its approach as combining medical treatment with recovery-oriented care. The goal is to connect people with community-based resources and help them return to their lives, rather than offering only a short-term stop-gap. Its stated mission is to provide immediate care to people in crisis and connect them to long-term support within their communities. At the Tucson Crisis Response Center, this can include care for someone seeking help for themselves or a loved one, as well as assistance for people concerned about someone else.
The Connections model includes a "no wrong door" policy, meaning the organization accepts individuals in need of treatment and care regardless of insurance. The company says its model has been adopted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing as a national best practice, based on its emphasis on access and quality. Connections also reports that 60 to 70 percent of individuals are stabilized and discharged back to the community after 23 hours at a Connections center. Across the organization, 45,000 people were served in 2025, with an average time of 38 minutes from arrival to provider in its 23-hour stabilization units. These figures are reported for Connections as a whole, rather than specifically for Tucson.
Connections Health Solutions was founded by emergency room psychiatrists Dr. Chris Carson and Dr. Robert Williamson. The organization says it brings 30 years of experience serving individuals in crisis and operates crisis response centers in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, described by the company as two of the nation's largest and most studied. Since opening its doors, Connections reports providing care and treatment to hundreds of thousands of people in crisis. Its broader work has also expanded to other locations, including centers in Montana, Virginia, Washington, Pennsylvania, California, and Arizona.
In Arizona, Connections identifies itself as a pillar of the crisis system and says it has developed partnerships with local government, law enforcement, first responders, local providers, managed care organizations, and behavioral health advocacy organizations. These relationships support its role within the wider behavioral health community and reflect the center's focus on linking crisis care with community resources. The Tucson center, along with Connections centers in Kirkland and Phoenix, has earned the Gold Seal of Approval for Behavioral Health Care and Human Services Accreditation from The Joint Commission.
People seeking care for themselves or a loved one can walk into the Connections center nearest them or call 988 for help. The Tucson Crisis Response Center offers urgent walk-in care, stabilization, and post-acute services in one setting, with support available at any time. Visitors can expect a crisis-focused behavioral health center serving both youth and adults, with care intended to address the immediate situation and help establish a connection to ongoing community support.