Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare’s Mental Health and Addictions Urgent Crisis Centre (MHAUCC) in downtown Windsor is now operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The expanded hours for walk-in services goes into effect Monday night and is the next step of the centre’s expansion. 

HDGH’s Director of Outpatient Mental Health Service Kevin Matte says the centre will be providing services at all times now, for anybody in mental health crisis.

He says the centre has been slowly been moving to a 24/7 operation.

“Obviously no one can time when they have a mental health crisis, so opening it up 24/7 gives people an alternate destination to an emergency department and gives people the service they need anytime they need it,” he says.

Matte says it’s awesome to see a place where people can go 24/7 to get mental health service.  

He says it’s a place tailored to mental health needs.

“We’ve always had 24/7 crisis phone lines,” he says.  “A couple months ago we went forward with offering 24/7 service for emergency provider drop-off, so that’s police and EMS and now this is the next step where anybody can access by just walking in.” 

 Matte says since April 2025, the centre has received 817 visits.

“We’ve had 57 EMS drop-offs to the MHAUCC and 25 police drop-offs,” says Matte.  “So we’re really happy with those numbers and again it shows that people are heating about us and people are coming in for the service.       

Earlier this year, the centre expanded to 24 hours a day, seven days a week for police and EMS to take individuals in need to the centre to receive care.  

The centre is located adjacent to the Goyeau Street entrance of Windsor Regional Hospital’s Ouellette Campus Emergency Department.

It opened in June 2024 and provides service to those over the age of 16, who are experiencing a mental health or addictions crisis and cannot safely wait for community mental health and addiction support.

The service was previously offered at 744 Ouellette Avenue.

 

People who voluntarily agree to go to the centre will receive help from subject matter experts, freeing up police and EMS to respond to priority incidents and reducing emergency room wait times.

From June 24 to December 31, 2024, the MHAUCC saw 943 clients; 44 of those clients were transferred directly from the emergency department.