CRF Del Sur Crisis Center

CRF Del Sur Crisis Center is a Short-Term Acute Residential Treatment (START) crisis residential program located in the South San Diego/Nestor neighborhood, operated by CRF Behavioral Healthcare — one of San Diego County's most established nonprofit behavioral health organizations. The center provides a voluntary, short-term alternative to psychiatric hospitalization in a home-like setting, serving adults aged 18 and older who are experiencing acute psychiatric crises.

Crisis Residential Treatment Model
The START model represents a nationally recognized, evidence-based approach to psychiatric crisis care that emphasizes recovery, autonomy, and community reintegration. Unlike traditional inpatient psychiatric units, START programs operate in residential settings designed to feel comfortable and non-institutional, reducing the stress and stigma often associated with psychiatric hospitalization. Research has consistently shown that crisis residential programs achieve comparable or superior clinical outcomes to inpatient hospitalization at significantly lower cost.

The average length of stay at Del Sur Crisis Center is approximately nine days, during which clients receive a comprehensive suite of services tailored to their individual needs. These include behavioral health and psychiatric evaluations, medication management, individual counseling, milieu therapy, group counseling sessions, life skills education groups, integrated substance use treatment for clients with co-occurring disorders, recreational and social activities, and thorough discharge planning to ensure continuity of care with ongoing community-based services.

Bilingual and Culturally Responsive Care
Reflecting the demographics of South San Diego, Del Sur Crisis Center is fully equipped to provide services in both English and Spanish. The program is specifically designed to serve individuals who identify as part of the Latinx community, with bilingual clinical staff, culturally adapted therapeutic materials, and an organizational commitment to linguistic and cultural accessibility. This dual-language capability is essential in a region where a significant portion of the population is Spanish-speaking.

Eligibility and Access
Del Sur Crisis Center accepts adults who are in psychiatric crisis of sufficient severity to require inpatient-level care, whose primary focus of treatment is a mental health condition (co-occurring substance use may be present but cannot be the primary diagnosis), whose medical conditions are stable and manageable at an outpatient level, and who voluntarily agree to participate in services and program guidelines. The program accepts Medi-Cal, Medi-Cal eligible, and uninsured individuals — no one is denied services based on inability to pay. The center operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, funded by the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, Behavioral Health Services division.