Mental health mobile crisis teams looking to expand

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – The Sedgwick County Commission accepted a $400,000 grant from the state Wednesday morning to help fund the county’s eight mobile crisis response teams. The teams respond to mental health calls around the community — wherever the crisis is happening.

The grant from the Kansas Department of Disability and Aging (KDADS) is an essential source of funding for COMCARE crisis teams. It funds half of its eight full-time mobile crisis teams.

Currently, it is only secured for the first half of the 2025 fiscal year. KDADS says it hopes to be able to provide more funding later in the year, but there are no guarantees.

Mobile crisis response teams are a resource being used more often by law enforcement to respond to non-threatening mental health calls.

“For decades, law enforcement has been forced into a place where they have to figure out how to respond to calls that are in no way part of their original charge and charter,” said Eric Litwiller, communications director for Mental Health America of South Central Kansas.

The Wichita Police Department is encouraging its officers to call on crisis response teams, but there are not always enough to go around.

The need for these mobile services is outpacing the resources available. Depending on the day, only one team may be available at a given time.

The grant and county funding only allows the maintenance of existing teams with no room for expansion.

Regina Stout with the Sedgwick County Community Crisis Center says that there is a desire to expand crisis teams.

“We have way more requests for mobile crisis response and ICT 1 than we have providers,” Stout said. “But again, we are primarily focused on maintaining our current operations.”

She said City of Wichita officials have also discussed expanding, but for now, the county still needs to secure the funding to maintain its existing teams throughout next year.

To find a list of mental health resources, click here.

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