Seven corners mental hospital seeks permission to expand services to substance abusers

Dominion Hospital

Dominion Hospital, a mental health facility at 2960 Sleepy Hollow Road in Seven Corners, is seeking a special use permit allowing it to treat people whose only need is recovery from alcoholism or substance abuse. 

Dominion CEO Lee Higginbotham told the Bailey’s Crossroads/Seven Corners Revitalization Corporation Feb. 18 that its current permit from Fairfax County, approved in 1990, only allows the facility to treat people with alcohol or substance abuse if they also have a psychiatric condition, such as schizophrenia or an eating disorder. 

“We’re already treating those patients,” Higginbotham said, as about a third of the psychiatric patients served are also alcoholics or drug abusers. The change “will allow us to provide needed services to the community.” 

The facility has 10 beds, and Dominion is not proposing to increase that or make any changes to the exterior or interior of the building. As a result, there won’t be an impact on traffic or parking. 

The application will be submitted to the county next week and will need to be approved by the Planning Commission and the Fairfax County Health Care Advisory Board. Higginbotham expects it will take five to six months to get through the approval process. 

Most patients are referred by Inova Fairfax Hospital, the Merrifield Center, or physicians in the community. “If a patient is suicidal, having illusions, and abusing drugs or alcohol, we could take that patient,” said Dr. Gary Litovitz, Dominion’s medical director. But if a substance abuser was admitted to the emergency room with a physical problem and no psychiatric issues, Dominion can’t accept them. 

The Sleepy Hollow Road facility primarily serves adults but sometimes treats adolescents, as well. Dominion also operates several other facilities, including one in an office building on Arlington Boulevard in Falls Church. 

Other services provided by Dominion Hospital include psychological trauma; child and adolescent behavioral health; eating disorders; outpatient services; and music, art, and dance therapy for people having trouble expressing themselves verbally. 

The average stay at Dominion is nine and a-half days. That has increased to 10 days during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the isolation and lack of interaction exacerbate mental illness, Higginbotham said.

During the past year, “we’ve been seeing a significant increase in alcoholism,” Litovitz said. Most of the substance abuse patients turning up at Dominion are addicted to prescription opiates. In many cases, a patient is prescribed opiates for pain after surgery, then develops an addiction.