WakeMed to take over operations at WakeBrook facility in Raleigh

Wake County and Alliance Health are partnering with WakeMed to provide services at the WakeBrook Behavioral Health Facility in Raleigh.

After WakeBrook reopens, WakeMed will share the campus with RI International to provide services such as:

• Crisis and assessment services
• Alcohol and drug detoxification unit
• Facility-based crisis services

Over the past decade, UNC Health turned the facility into a model for helping law enforcement find care for people instead of taking them to jail or the emergency room. In July, UNC Health announced it was ending its services at WakeBrook, leading to layoffs.

WakeBrook is a 28-bed inpatient psychiatric unit on Sunnybrook Road.

“WakeMed has the ability to provide higher levels of medical care at WakeBrook as a clinically appropriate alternative to local emergency departments,” said Alliance Health CEO Rob Robinson. “They will be able to leverage their medical staff to support patient care on the inpatient unit and call upon their partnership with a network of behavioral health providers to provide important post-acute community-based behavioral health and substance use disorders services and social care supports.”

WakeMed also recently announced plans to build a 150-bed mental health hospital in Garner which is set to open in early 2027. WakeMed’s partnership with nationally recognized mental health care provider Sheppard Pratt will also benefit WakeBrook patients.

“We are excited by the opportunity this partnership represents for the continuum of behavioral health care in Wake County,” said Wake County Commissioner Cheryl Stallings. “WakeMed’s historical commitment to supporting some of our most vulnerable community members, engagement of community providers to support post-crisis needs and service expansion to include a new behavioral health hospital make them a unique partner for this important service.”

A timeline for opening the inpatient unit has not yet been established. The end of UNC Health services at WakeBrook was Sept. 30.