Cape Fear Valley Health treats behavioral health as one of its largest and most strategic service lines, offering a full continuum of care from a dedicated psychiatric emergency department to adult and adolescent inpatient units and robust outpatient services.

For emergencies, Cape Fear Valley Health has a nine-bed psychiatric emergency department. The health system is renovating this department and expanding it, with expectations for the new additions to be ready in 2027. 

The psychiatric emergency department is a safety-focused area. People typically stay in that area for about 24 hours while doctors do a psychiatric assessment, and then either they are discharged with an appointment to a local community resource, or if their needs are more urgent, they may be moved to an inpatient facility. Cape Fear Valley Health has a licensed 32-bed adult psychiatric unit that is designed in such a way that patients get psychiatric services, stabilization, psychotherapy and recreational therapy.

The health system also operates a 16-bed adolescent inpatient unit called the Dorothea Dix Care Unit for Adolescents in Fayetteville. The facility is staffed by doctors, nurses, psychotherapists and recreational therapists, all geared toward helping children and adolescents get the services they need so that they can get into recovery mode. The ages served in the adolescent facility are 12 and up until their 18th birthday. Cape Fear Valley Health also just opened an additional 16-bed adolescent psychiatric unit in Harnett County to better serve young people in the area. 

Also in the hospital itself, there is a consult liaison service, so that if somebody comes in for a medical problem or any kind of medical concern, and they just so happen to have a psychiatric issue as well, there is a team of experts that round on those patients and see them and work with the attending doctors that are treating the medical component to also treat the psychiatric component.

Beyond inpatient services, Cape Fear Valley Health’s mental health center is located at 711 Executive Pl. This facility is a combination of psychotherapists, psychiatrists, advanced practice professionals, and psychiatric residents who all work together to serve approximately 50,000 patient visits per year. Services range from psychotherapy to medication management and evaluations to best meet the needs on an outpatient basis. 

As part of the health system’s residency program at Cape Fear Valley Health, there are 36 psychiatric residents, as well as a child and adolescent fellowship program. Through these programs, Cape Fear Valley Health is training future providers so that they can step in and serve the community. Research shows that up to about 50% of the residency trainees stay local, and there is a tremendous local need in North Carolina for more psychiatric assistance. 

As the need for these services continues to grow, Cape Fear Valley Health is working to expand operations to accommodate larger volumes of patients. In the last six months, the health system developed another community mental health center in Dunn, where a group of providers is serving patients on an outpatient basis, just like the facility in Fayetteville. There are two doctors signed up and two advanced practice professionals, all working out of that same building.

The hospital is also offering new treatments. In Fayetteville, they recently started an ECT program, electroconvulsive therapy, and then a TMS, which is transcranial magnetic stimulation, which is a new state-of-the-art, evidence-based service that helps treat major depression and treatment-resistant depression. Both of these treatments are interventional psychiatric techniques that really help people who have chronic, long-term depression. 

For those interested in seeking help, call 910-615-333.  If somebody’s already a patient of Cape Fear Valley Health or has MyChart, they can go through MyChart and request an appointment. Cape Fear Valley Health wants to make it easy for people to reach out and access the help they need.

Cape Fear Valley Health’s behavioral health program demonstrates a deep, systemwide commitment to meeting patients where they are, whether in crisis or simply needing ongoing support. Not only is Cape Fear Valley addressing today’s mental health needs, but implementing programs and building the infrastructure to care for this community well into the future.