On May 12, 2026, nonprofit behavioral healthcare provider Community Health Resources (CHR) celebrated the ribbon-cutting and dedication of The Rose Center in Norwich alongside DCF Commissioner Susan Hamilton, State Senator Cathy Osten, Norwich Mayor Swarnjit Singh, local elected officials, healthcare providers, CHR’s Board of Directors, and donors and supporters of CHR. View our news release here.
View coverage from the event here and below: WTNH, Norwich Bulletin (5/13), Norwich Bulletin (5/12), The Day, NBC Connecticut.
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Attendees cheer after cutting the ribbon during the grand opening of Rose Center, Community Health Resources new space designed to help children and teens experiencing Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Gordon/The Day)
Officials celebrate opening of new mental health crisis center for children in Norwich
By Daniel Drainville
May 12, 2026
Norwich — A kitchen, gaming room, two living rooms and 10 bedrooms are all part of a new mental health center for children and teens that opened Tuesday at 2 Clinic Drive.
During a Tuesday morning ribbon cutting ceremony, state and local officials said the state-funded center will offer crucial mental health stabilization services to children while addressing the shortage in such services.
Before she toured the 7,000-square-foot Rose Center, Department of Children and Families Interim Commissioner Susan Hamilton called the opening a “major step forward in behavioral health services for children in Connecticut.”
“We know families across our state have struggled to find the right level of support when they need it, experiencing a behavioral health crisis, and the Rose Center was created to help fill that gap.”
Heather Gates, the president and CEO of Community Health Resources, the nonprofit organization that will run the center, said the facility will be a place of “hope and healing for children and teens for years to come.”
Gates called CHR “the most comprehensive nonprofit behavioral healthcare agency in the state,” adding that it provides a full range of services for people of all ages who have been affected by mental illness, substance use disorders, trauma, homelessness and more.
“This includes 24/7 crisis care as well as outpatient and school-based services,” Gates said. The nonprofit, which also operates an outpatient care facility in Willimantic, has been “a strong force” in eastern Connecticut for more than 20 years.
“I’m sure there’s hardly anyone here in the audience who has not either themselves, or had a family member or friend, who’s been touched by mental illness or by substance use,” Gates said. “So our work is so critical to the health and well-being of our communities.”
Gates said CHR was honored to have been asked DCF to open the Rose Center, “in response to the growing need for more specialized care for children and teens experiencing depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and other serious mental health emergencies.”
She said highly trained staff at the center will provide “subacute crisis stabilization services, in an environment that respects the voice and unique journey of every youth and family who comes to us for care.”
Gates said CHR’s Associate Vice President of Child and Family Services Robin Sampson Powell, and Senior Vice President of Child and Family Services Jennifer Nadeau will oversee the center.
Nadeau explained a child undergoing a subacute crisis is not as severe as a child who needs inpatient hospitalization. Stays at the center are no more than 14 days.
“These are kids that are suicidal, they may have self-injurious behaviors. They may be discharging from an inpatient level of care and we’re kind of taking them and providing another step before they are reunited with their home lives and their communities,” she said.
The center will offer individual, family and group therapy, psychiatric consultation, medication management, safety and stabilization support, skills development for caregivers and youth, and connect patients with resources close to home, Gates said.
“We recognize that children and teens have specialized needs and deserve a place to call their own as they recover and prepare to go home and move forward with their lives.”
After officials cut the ribbon, CHR staff led tours of the facility, which was designed by Amenta Emma Architects of Hartford and constructed by Proulx Building & Remodeling of Stafford.
CHR officials explained that everything in the building is “ligature free,” meaning there are no contact points for those staying at the center to use for self-harm.
“That’s really critical for kids who are in severe crisis,” Gates had said.
There are rooms for therapy and offices for medical staff, and a sensory room featuring a beanbag and wave chair, and natural lighting.
The interior is painted with calming colors, including a soft blue on the walls.
There’s also on-site security.
“Particularly in the evenings and on weekends,” Nadeau said. “Who will, just be present to make sure that the kids are maintaining safety, and that the site is safe.”
The group moved to the two living rooms with couches and televisions, one for teens and one for younger children. The 10 bedrooms are similarly divided and are on opposite sides of the building. The center includes amenities such as a gym, gaming room, craft/library area and quiet room.
Nadeau said the idea was to make the center “as homelike as possible in a setting like this.”
The facility will be staffed by 30 people split among three shifts, Nadeau said.
Clients can be referred from anywhere in Connecticut.
Phil M. Tartsinis, CEO of Professional Properties of Enfield Inc. and AMF Property Management Corp., said he has been involved with CHR as a philanthropic donor for several years. He presented a check to CHR at the ribbon-cutting.
Tartsinis said the center will “give children in behavioral health crisis the avenue to come to a welcoming, happy environment and obtain the services they need to get back to life. And get back to living. And really avoid, in some cases, emergency rooms, which are a little more traumatic and chaotic as they are in general.”
“It’s really an honor and a pleasure to be part of this,” he said.