"With one phone call, a mobile crisis respond team can be dispatched anywhere in the county, using this van to assess the situation and connect people with the resources they need."
The goal is to provide an in-person response to those who are dealing with a mental health crisis.
Dispatch sends a team of medical professionals as opposed to sending law enforcement.
It started off as a pilot program and nearly four years later has grown to become another option in getting mental health care of residents.
It was started by County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer who shared the program’s progress during a news conference Monday moring.
Lawson-Remer says, “ it can lessen the chance that an indivual ends up on our streets it can help folks manage their conditions before they spiral down into a darker darker place.”
And she says the data proves it. Since it’s inception, the Mobile Crisis Response Team has helped more than 7,800 people, responding to 13,000 calls. She says more than 80% of the calls they’ve responded to have kept people out of emergency rooms and hospitals.
More than 50% of the calls were successfully resolved by the Response Team while in the field.
Breawna Lane is a member of the Mobile Crisis Response Team. She says people seem more comfortable with a team of professionals instead of law enforcement officers.
Lane adds, “ A lot of people need a crisis response but they're fearful if they get a law enforcement response.
It's not that law enforcement is doing anything bad. It's a different level of response.”
She adds this type of response seems to get more people on board with accepting the help they need.
Lane adds, “ Being able to help people on the worst day of their life and provide them a different experience. We come out meet them where they're at at their car .. their workplace environment. We're able to meet them at a humanistic level and hear what's happening.”
Supervisor Lawson-Remer says there are plans to grow the program by adding more response teams in the rotation.
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