Eastern Iowa Crisis outreach team sees record number of calls

CEDAR RAPIDS - An Eastern Iowa crisis outreach program was dispatched on a record number of calls in November, which program officials say points to an increased awareness of its service and the impact of changes in mental health services in Iowa.

Mobile Crisis Outreach, a program through the Cedar Rapids-based, non-profit Foundation 2, was dispatched to 130 calls for service in November in an eight-county region that includes Linn and Johnson counties.

On Nov. 20 alone, the outreach teams were called to 13 locations in 24 hours.

In the same month in 2016, the program's counselors were dispatched 97 times.

In November 2015, counselors were dispatched 25 times.

'In the last year, we've seen really incredible growth,” said Drew Martel, the Mobile Crisis Outreach program manager.

Foundation 2 is a human services agency that offers suicide prevention programs, including crisis chats via telephone or text, and the Mobile Crisis Outreach program.

The Mobile Crisis Outreach program offers in-person counseling and referral services for those 'in crisis,” Martel said.

'What's interesting about our program is that we see just about everything you can imagine,” Martel said. 'We get called out for everything from after a suicide has occurred to family mediations to parents calling because their kid won't go to school.

'We get called out for mentally ill homeless individuals and when someone is just feeling lonely and wants someone to talk to.”

The service is free, and the program's 15 counselors are dispatched 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, Martel said.

The increase in calls, he said, can be credited to a higher awareness of the service, as well as changes in the state's mental health care.

The biggest impact on Foundation 2's crisis outreach came when the state switched its $5 billion Medicaid program to privately managed care in April 2016, Martel said.

He said clients became anxious about their medical coverage, and some people could no longer go to their mental health provider if that therapist or doctor no longer accepted their insurer.

Mobile Crisis Outreach counselors also have been called more frequently to rural areas, also likely due to an increased awareness, Martel said.

'We're trying to make sure people know we're here,” he said.

Those who wish to contact Foundation 2's crisis services in the Cedar Rapids area can call (319) 362-2174 or call 1-(800) 332-4224 toll-free in Iowa,

l Comments: (319) 368-8536; michaela.ramm@thegazette.com