City Council approved up to $3 million for WellStone's new 16-bed crisis facility and $120,000 for Not One More Alabama's Discovery Room. Here is where it goes.

Huntsville will put up to $3.12 million of its opioid settlement money into two local nonprofits. The larger share will help open a 16-bed mental health and substance use crisis facility run by WellStone.

The City Council approved both agreements at its regular meeting Thursday, Oct. 22. The city announced the decision in a release on the opioid settlement funding.

Where the money goes

Recipient Up to Yearly cap What it pays for
WellStone $3 million $1 million a year, starting in fiscal 2028 Furnishings, fixtures and equipment for the new crisis facility, then staff salaries once it opens
Not One More Alabama $120,000 $60,000 a year, starting this fiscal year The mobile Discovery Room, a drug education exhibit

The council’s Oct. 22 agenda lists the two memorandums of understanding as resolutions 26-955 and 26-956. The first describes the WellStone project as a “new substance use disorder and mental health crisis 16-bed facility.”

Why WellStone says it needs the beds

WellStone presented its case to the council in a six-slide presentation. For the year from Oct. 1, 2025, to Sept. 30, 2026, it reported:

  • a record 17,702 children, teens and adults served, up 3,500 from the year before
  • 2,411 adults seen at its crisis center, up 600
  • 529 clients diagnosed with an opioid disorder
  • 2,771 clients with other substance use diagnoses

The presentation also cited demand from two other places. Huntsville Hospital averages 90 behavioral health admissions a month through its emergency department, WellStone said. The Madison County jail averages 30 urgent mental health follow-up admissions a month.

Neither the city release nor the presentation gives a site or an opening date for the new facility.

The Discovery Room

Not One More Alabama is a Huntsville nonprofit founded in 2016. It offers drug education, family support, recovery resources and grief services.

Its Discovery Room is a mobile exhibit set up as a teenager’s bedroom. Parents, caregivers and educators walk through it to learn the warning signs of drug use and how drugs and paraphernalia get hidden. It focuses on fentanyl, prescription misuse and counterfeit pills. The group started it in 2018 in memory of Jay Barton, its presentation to the council said.

Requests for the exhibit are outpacing what the group can schedule, the presentation said. The city money will:

  • pay for a dedicated event specialist
  • update the exhibit’s furnishings and opioid indicators
  • modernize printed and digital materials
  • cover basic operating costs

The group said it will track events and attendance monthly and survey visitors before and after.

What it means for you

If you or someone you know is in a mental health or substance use crisis now, WellStone Emergency Services takes walk-ins around the clock for adults and children, and no one is turned away for inability to pay, WellStone says. You can also call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Call 911 for a life-threatening emergency.

Schools, churches and community groups that want the Discovery Room at an event can request it through Not One More Alabama.

You can read every item from the council’s Oct. 22 meeting page. For who to contact about council business, see our guide to who to call at City Hall.