Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker will sign an executive order Tuesday to unveil a new wellness court and wellness support in Kensington.
Parker will be joined by Chief Public Safety Director Adam Geer, other city officials and community partners around 11 a.m. The press conference will be streamed in the video player above or wherever CBS News Philadelphia streams.
The mayor and city officials will discuss the Kensington Neighborhood Wellness Court and Wellness Support Center.
A city spokesperson said the wellness court will be located in the 24th and 25th Precinct Building at 3901 Whitaker Ave.
Philadelphia opened the Riverview wellness center next to the city jail complex in Holmesburg earlier this month.
City officials said the Riverview Wellness Center is a treatment and recovery center. Some buildings will be renovated to provide long-term housing for people in recovery.
Parker called the wellness center part of the city’s wellness ecosystem.
Managing director Adam Thiel said the Riverview Wellness Center will help fill a void in the city. Philadelphia has access to 1,400 mental health treatment beds and between 1,600 and 1,700 substance abuse treatment beds, but only about 500 recovery beds. According to officials, the renovation of the Riverview Wellness Center will add 340 new beds.
Brian Parkhill of Parkhill Recovery Solutions says keeping people in recovery is one of the biggest challenges and he sees a great need for a facility like the Riverview Wellness Center.
“We have such a big situation, but during the day there were weeks where just Dan and I were sending 50-60 people to treatment,” Parkhill said. “And those are really great numbers. … If we get a chance to get that up and running, it will be fun.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
