A regional center for youths suffering a mental health crisis is on the way.

A groundbreaking ceremony was scheduled for Thursday, April 20, to start construction on the youth Crisis Receiving Center that will be located at St. Joseph’s Villa, it has been announced.

The Villa, a nonprofit support center for families and children located at Parham and Brook roads, is teaming with Henrico County to develop the center that will offer a range of intervention services to those ages 7 to 17.

The center is planned to initially provide services to six patients and expand to nine patients, according to the announcement. When completed, the center, though based in Henrico, will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to serve youths in Central Virginia.

The primary goal of the new center is to divert youths from being taken to a hospital emergency room for treatment, where families might wait days for assessment and intervention, the announcement states.

At the center, youths would be assessed and then linked to the next appropriate level of care within 23 hours of being admitted, the announcement states.