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Stabilization and Crisis Unit (SACU)

The Stabilization and Crisis Unit (SACU) is a 24-hour crisis residential program in ODDS. Community Developmental Disabilities Programs refer individuals to SACU.

Services and supportsRedesign projectContacts

About SACU

We serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), often with co-occurring mental health issues, whose support needs exceed the supports offered or provided by community-based residential programs. Individuals may come from family homes, other community programs, legal institutions or hospital settings. These individuals often enter SACU in crisis, and over time, we work to stabilize and transition them to lower levels of care with the goal of reintegrating them into other community-based settings.

SACU operates group homes along the I-5 corridor from Portland to Eugene, serving about 90 individuals. Each home offers varying levels of environmental supports and modifications. This allows SACU to provide services that range from intense crisis-level support needs to lower levels of care that more closely match what is available in other community-based placements. This variety offers flexibility to provide person-centered and individualized supports specific to each need.

SACU's Direct Support Crisis Staff are well-trained and have resources and tools to support people living at SACU. Those resources include specific plans on how to best support a person in crisis. Staff exhaust those options before calling for support from emergency services.

Services and supports

  • Health and medical supports
  • Nursing supports
  • Behavioral supports
  • Crisis outreach supports
  • Personal hygiene
  • Recreation and leisure supports
  • Community integration
  • Building social skills
  • Life skills training
  • Educational supports
  • Budgeting and financial supports​

  • Mandate that individuals live in our homes
  • Force medication compliance
  • Administer psychotropic PRN (as needed) medications
  • Use any pain compliance techniques
  • Use of any physical techniques outside of the Oregon Intervention System​

Mandatory reporting

Program employees serving adults and/or children with developmental disabilities are mandatory reporters of abuse and neglect (ORS 43.765).

Now hiring

Are you interested in supporting Oregonians with intellectual and developmental disabilities? SACU is currently hiring. 

Learn more:
Oregon State Jobs website

Quick links

Union information

Redesign project: SACU operational plan

The Oregon State Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 5006 in June 2025. The bill told the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) to develop a new operational plan for SACU and present it to the Legislature by Sep. 30, 2026. The plan will have phases. The first phase must start by July 1, 2027.

The Legislature fully funded SACU for the 2025–27 biennium. They also directed SACU to:

  • Follow all federal rules for home- and community-based services,
  • Offer short-term crisis care to help individuals stabilize, and then
  • Support them to move back to their communities, ready to live the lives they want.
  • Work with the community to make the redesign plan.

During 2026, SACU worked with two contractors to develop the new plan. In September 2026, we asked the Legislative Fiscal Office for more time to preview the draft plan with individuals, families, guardians, staff, labor, and partners. Their feedback will be essential context for the Legislature. We will now submit the SACU operational plan and a report of the feedback we collect to the Legislature by Jan. 8, 2027. 

For a full update, read our Sept. 28, 2026, message: English | Español (Spanish) | اللغة العربية (Arabic) | 简体中文 (Chinese Simplified) | Русский (Russian) | Af Soomaali (Somali) | Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)

We will continue to support SACU residents and staff through this process. Our mission continues to be the safety, health and well-being of all at SACU.

We will use community messages and this web page to keep the community posted. We will share resources here. If you have questions, email odds.questions@odhs.oregon.gov.

Contacts

SACU Administrative Offices
4760 Portland Rd N, Ste 102
Salem, OR 97302

Phone: 503-378-5952
Fax: 503-378-5917

  • Winston Brown, Interim Director
  • Bryan Wier, Deputy Director
  • Cindy Duran, Nurse Manager
  • Aaron Hall, Clinical Services Manager