Former Carolina Panthers player Steve Smith has announced plans to establish a new behavioral health urgent care center in Charlotte in partnership with Mecklenburg County and Alliance Health.
The center will operate 24/7 and will provide mental health and substance abuse treatment for children and adults.
Speaking to the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners last week, Smith said he had been developing the idea with Deputy County Manager Anthony Troutman since March of last year, saying the issue was deeply personal to him.
“I am a survivor of domestic violence and I understand that the things you need to address start with mental health,” he said.
Smith told commissioners that both he and his mother experienced domestic violence when he was a child, and he hoped the establishment of a behavioral health center in Charlotte would help others in similar situations today.
“I’m not doing it because it sounds good. I’m doing it because I know what it’s like and I’ve experienced it personally,” Smith said.
The new center will be built on Colonnade Drive in East Charlotte, near the Bojangles Coliseum. Mecklenburg County has committed $2 million for construction, and the Steve Smith Family Foundation and Alliance Health have also committed $800,000 each toward construction costs.
The center will be run by behavioral health care provider Daymark Recovery Services, which currently operates two similar centers in Rockingham and Asheboro. Daymark CEO Billy West told commissioners it would be the first 24-hour behavioral health urgent care center in Charlotte.
Smith was a wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers from 2001 to 2013, before moving to the Baltimore Ravens in 2014. He retired from the NFL in 2017. Smith said he wanted to establish the behavioral health center in Charlotte as a way to give back to the city.
“I want to continue to honor my city that has adopted me, and that is my purpose. And when I am buried here, I want to leave a legacy in the city in the same way that they changed my family’s legacy for generations,” Smith said.
The new center is expected to open in January 2023.
