The Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board handled the needs of 24,000 people in the last year, its executive director Daryl Washington told the Falls Church City Council at its work session on Monday. New challenges and initiatives have kept the organization, headquartered in Merrifield, busy, he said, including 24-7 emergency and walk-in assessment service, accommodating the state’s expansion of Medicaid to an additional 300,000 residents (a new 200 signed up here), and a “diversion first” initiative designed to steer persons away from incarceration to CSB treatment options. The opioid epidemic has presented special challenges, and the CSB is mandated to find hospital beds for patients even if located out of the state, if necessary, Washington said. There are a total of 40 CSB’s in Virginia.

The local CSB’s Merrifield Crisis Response Center, open all hours, is at 8221 Willow Oaks Corporate Drive, and can be reached at (703) 573-5679.