Larimer County expands Longview to add short-term overnight care for adolescents

Larimer County officials and Summit Stone Health Partners told the Board of County Commissioners on July 7, 2025, that Longview, the county’s acute behavioral health facility, will add short-term overnight crisis stabilization beds for adolescents ages 12 to 17, with construction beginning the day of the meeting and an anticipated service launch in September or October.

The change expands inpatient-capable crisis care at Longview while keeping the facility’s mission focused on acute stabilization rather than long-term residential treatment. “This is acute care, so that stay is 5 to 7 days on average,” said Leslie Brooks, chief medical officer for Summit Stone Health Partners and executive director for services at Longview.

The expansion responds to local demand and prior voter support for behavioral health funding. Amy Martinis, Larimer County Director of Behavioral Health Services, noted the county’s 2018 voter-approved funding surcharge: “in 2018 our community made the very forward thinking decision to tax ourselves 25¢ on a $100 so that there would be dedicated funding for behavioral health services,” she said.

Why it matters: the added adolescent beds aim to reduce transfers to emergency departments and distant inpatient facilities by keeping more youth in a local, medically supervised setting for short-term stabilization, withdrawal management and medication initiation. Summit Stone and county staff said the effort fills a gap in the county’s continuum of care while recognizing that some youth will still require higher-level, longer-term inpatient placements.

What Summit Stone will provide and when: Summit Stone plans to open five…