'A real turning point': Mobile crisis units offer new tool in mental health treatment

For years, getting help during a mental health emergency usually began with two options, neither ideal and both often harmful: A call to police or a trip to the emergency room, where someone could wait hours, days, even weeks for care.

So-called “emergency room boarding” has led to upward of 30 children and often as many adults waiting for an inpatient bed, lawsuits, and a state Supreme Court order.

As of this month, there’s a new option that mental health advocates have been asking for for at least a decade: a 24/7 phone line answered by trained mental health staff and, for those who need more, a mobile crisis response team that goes to them.

The hope is that a quicker response to the community will spare people emergency room waits and provide them the appropriate level of care, which can often be immediate stabilization and a next-day appointment with a counselor. Staff from Health and Human Services have said they expect call center staff will resolve 80 percent of cases without dispatching a crisis response team.

Read more: https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2022/01/12/a-real-turning-point-mobile-crisis-units-offer-new-tool-in-mental-health-treatment/