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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



Redesign project

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. ODHS must present this new plan 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.

The SACU Redesign Project is working to do this. We will update the community about our progress. We will give people ways to get involved. We will 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 this web page to keep the community updated. We will share resources here. If you have questions, email odds.questions@odhs.oregon.gov.

 Listening sessions October 2025

SACU is hosting listening sessions in October. We want to hear from you, so our work is shaped by your experiences and needs.

We invite individuals served by SACU, their families and guardians, self-advocates from the I/DD community and members of the larger community to come. We’ll host sessions for I/DD providers and case management entities in the near future.

Read the full invitation

English Español (Spanish) اللغةالعربية (Arabic) 简体中文 (Chinese Simplified) Русский (Russian) Af Soomaali (Somali) Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)

Locations

There are in-person and virtual options for each region. For information about the location, click the venue’s name below.

Eugene

In-person meeting

Zoom meeting for Eugene area

  • Date: October 20
  • Time: 4 to 6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
  • How to attend: Use this link to register.
    Zoom will send you a confirmation email. It will have directions to join the meeting.

Corvallis

In-person meeting

  • Date: October 21, 2025
  • Time: 10 a.m. to noon Pacific Daylight Time
  • Location: Tunison Community Room
    365 SW Tunison, Corvallis, OR 97333

Zoom meeting for Corvallis area

  • Date: October 21, 2025
  • Time: 4 to 6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
  • How to attend: Use this link to register.
    Zoom will send you a confirmation email. It will have directions to join the meeting.

Salem

In-person meeting

  • Date: October 27, 2025
  • Time: 10 a.m. to noon Pacific Daylight Time
  • Location: Pringle Community Hall
    606 Church St. SE, Salem, OR 97301

Zoom meeting for Salem area

  • Date: October 27, 2025
  • Time: 4 to 6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
  • How to attend: Use this link to register.
    Zoom will send you a confirmation email. It will have directions to join the meeting.

Portland

In-person meeting

  • Date: October 29, 2025
  • Time: 10 a.m. to noon Pacific Daylight Time
  • Location: Multnomah Arts Center
    7688 SW Capitol Highway, Portland OR, 97216

Zoom meeting for Portland area

  • Date: October 29, 2025
  • Time: 4 to 6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
  • How to attend: Use this link to register.
    Zoom will send you a confirmation email. It will have directions to join the meeting.

McMinnville

In-person meeting

Zoom meeting for McMinnville area

  • Date: October 30, 2025
  • Time: 4 to 6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
  • How to attend: Use this link to register.
    Zoom will send you a confirmation email. It will have directions to join the meeting.

Resources

SACU Proposed Strategic Plan, April 2025

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