Restoration Center of Greater Lowell

The Restoration Center serves as a diversion program designed to offer an alternative to emergency rooms and incarceration for individuals in a behavioral health crisis.

For almost a decade, MAMH has helped develop and prepare to pilot the Restoration Center of Greater Lowell (Restoration Center), a program designed to divert people experiencing behavioral health crises from being placed in other – less restorative – settings. All too often, someone experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis is arrested or brought to an Emergency Department, rather than offered treatment or services that more appropriately address their needs.

The Restoration Center was developed in collaboration with the Middlesex County Restoration Center Commission and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) and serves as a diversion program for behavioral health patients. Dr. Danna Mauch, President and CEO of MAMH, along with Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian, serve as co-chairs of the Commission.

The aim of the Commission and the Restoration Center is to provide urgent psychiatric care and/or crisis stabilization services and other related social and health services in less restrictive settings than hospitals or jails.

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The Restoration Center offers low-barrier, trauma-informed methods of care, including:

  • Triage and medical clearance
  • A peer-led living room offering supportive space
  • Short-term sober support beds
  • Inpatient detoxification and clinical stabilization services
  • Outpatient counseling
  • Medication for addiction treatment
  • Short-term respite care in a supervised therapeutic environment

These services help support ongoing law enforcement diversionary efforts across New England’s most populous county, diverting individuals with behavioral health conditions from arrest or unnecessary hospitalization.

The center is operated by Vinfen in partnership with Spectrum Health Systems and is located at 10 Technology Drive in Lowell. Read more about the Restoration Center and the services it provides here.

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Recent News:

After years of planning and collaboration, the Restoration Center officially opened its doors on March 31st, 2026. Advocates of the restoration center, along with public safety officials and behavioral health providers, gathered celebrated its opening. Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian and Dr. Danna Mauch, co-chairs of the Middlesex County Restoration Center Commission, both spoke at the event.

“Today’s opening marks a major step in a process that was thoughtful, deliberate and collaborative,” said Dr. Mauch and Sheriff Koutoujian. “As we celebrate the commitment and expertise of the diverse range of individuals and organizations that have brought us to this moment, on behalf of people living with complex behavioral health needs, we know that more work is ahead as we formally begin to provide critical services to the community.”

Four months later, in the FY2027 budget, Governor Maura Healey approved a $1.5 million appropriation to support the Restoration Center.

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History and Past Reports:

This project has been active since 2018, when the 13-member Middlesex County Restoration Center Commission was tasked by the Massachusetts Legislature with piloting a program to create a restoration center in Middlesex County. The center would provide behavioral health services to individuals in mental health or substance use crises. Find more information about the Commission's work in this 1-page summary or on the Mass.gov website.

Click through the following links to view reports from the commission between 2019 and 2025:

Year 1 (2019)

Year 1 Report Summary

Year 1 Report

Year 1 Report Appendices

Year 1 Testimony to Support the Creation of a Criminal Justice and Community Support Trust Fund.

Year 2 (2020)

Year 2 Report

Year 3 (2021)

Year Three Report

Year 4 (2022)

Year 4 Report

Year 5 (2023)

Year 5 Report

Year 6 (2024)

Year 6 Report

Year 7 (2025)

Year 7 Report

On March 14, 2022, President Biden signed into law an appropriation bill that included $1.65 million for the Middlesex County Restoration Center. This follows a $1 million appropriation in the MA FY2022 budget, which was supported by a June 15, 2021 editorial in the Boston Globe calling for funding at this level.