Policymakers and behavioral health professionals from across Bucks County gathered in Doylestown recently to witness the raising of a roof truss for the Bright Path Center, a symbolic celebration of the behavioral health crisis stabilization center slated to open in spring 2026.
About two dozen officials signed a wooden support truss which contractors then lifted and installed in the roof of Bright Path Center. The first-of-its-kind center in Pennsylvania, which will serve families and individuals from Lower Bucks and Central Bucks, is under construction on the grounds of but separate from Doylestown Hospital, next to the existing Lenape Valley Foundation building at 500 N. West Street.
“This is a special milestone,” said Lenape Valley Foundation CEO Dave Herold. “It’s more than steel, lumber and concrete. It celebrates a vision that is coming to life, a vision of inclusive, accessible, responsive behavioral health system for the residents of Bucks County.”
Officials who spoke in support of the center included Pennsylvania State Senator Steve Santarsiero; Bucks County Commissioners Diane Ellis-Marseglia, Bob Harvie, and Gene DiGirolamo; Bucks County Director of Human Services Rachael Neff, Bucks County Drug & Alcohol Commission Executive Director Diane Rosati, and Rob Hutchinson, president of the Lenape Valley Foundation board of directors.
Each speaker emphasized how deeply the community needs the services the center will offer. But Harvie pointed out that the increased need doesn’t necessarily come from an increase in the number of people experiencing mental health or substance use challenges; it comes from the changing ways in which society now views those challenges.
“We’ve been waging a war against stigma for so long that people are now more comfortable to come and ask for help than they used to be,” said Harvie. “We want people to feel as comfortable coming to get this kind of help as they would going to an urgent care because they sprained their ankle, that there is no difference in needing mental health care versus physical health care.”
Bright Path Center will unite an array of behavioral health crisis services under one roof and deliver acute, trauma-informed, person-centered care in a calming environment. Experienced behavioral health professionals will be available around the clock to welcome, assess, and stabilize those experiencing urgent challenges related to mental health, drug and alcohol use, and/or intellectual disabilities. With separate spaces for children and adults, the 22,000-square-foot center is designed to offer compassionate care to individuals and families to de-escalate a critical situation and determine the best path forward.
“Bright Path Center is going to elevate our ability to help Bucks County residents who have substance use and mental health issues,” said Rosati, “and we’re confident of the impact it will make in the community.”
Bright Path Center is a collaborative effort between Bucks County Department of Behavioral Health/Developmental Programs, Bucks County Drug & Alcohol Commission, Lenape Valley Foundation, Magellan Behavioral Health, and Penn Medicine Doylestown Hospital. Lenape Valley Foundation will operate the center. The building project is being overseen by Gorski Engineering Inc.