What they’re thinking: Use of mobile crisis outreach program increases

IOWA CITY — The Crisis Center of Johnson County recently has seen an increase in use of its Mobile Crisis Outreach Program. The program allows people to get immediate, on-site help in mental crisis and emotional distress situations.

The number is (855) 800-1239. Timothy Kelly, the program coordinator, explains how it plays a vital role.

Q: What happens when someone in crisis calls the Mobile Crisis Outreach Program?

A: The call goes in through a call center at another agency foundation. The person who answers does sort of a brief screening to make sure it's safe and appropriate for our counselors to respond. And if it is, then they call the counselors, whomever is on call. And then we, in most cases, arrive within an hour to provide services.

Q: What are some example crisis situations when residents may call the program for help?

A: We see all kinds of different situations, so it could be that somebody has experienced some kind of change in their life, maybe a divorce, loss of a job, loss of housing, and they're in emotional distress.

And maybe they're having thoughts of suicide. Maybe there's substance abuse going on. ... We also see family conflicts ... particularly if there is a young person in the home and there's conflict with them and the parents. Whereas that family may have called the police if they feel like their young person is sort of moving to be out of control, and we sometimes will respond as an alternative, provided that it's safe for everybody.

Q: What role does the Mobile Crisis Outreach Program play in the community?

A: With the initial contact, the evidence for mobile crisis programs in general around the country is that from a big picture standpoint, these programs prevent hospitalizations or emergency room visits when that level of care may not be needed. And then we also help facilitate people that get to the hospital in cases where there's kind of a question and that seems like the appropriate thing.

So we do prevent the ER hospitalization, which is a cost savings too, if that's the appropriate alternative.

And then also police time. Police often end up being the only responders for mental health crises. And although we have a lot of great officers in our community who do a good job with that, it's not really what they're set up to be doing or what they're trained to do. So we sort of help to provide a relief to law enforcement where they'd otherwise be dealing with mental health issues.

Q: What is use of the program like?

A: ... I would say in the period from February 2015 until June, we were averaging somewhere in the neighborhood of 11, 12 calls a month. And then in the period from June until now, we're averaging in the upper 30s. And that's just the initial crisis contact calls. We're doing about 38 calls a month on average these days.

Q: Is there anything else people should know about the program?

A: One of the other benefits, we do a lot of follow up, too, and that's after that initial contact happens. When we check back in and see if, there was safety plan developed, how did that go? If resources were provided, did you make use of them?

And then the way that we see the follow up in general is our aim is to provide a bridge to help to fill the gap between that initial crisis contact and then when the person feels like they actually have the appropriate support they feel like they need.

So with follow up, what we really try to do is be there for folks in that time in between. And I think that's become a really cool part of what we're doing. Like I said, we're averaging 38 calls a month but follow ups, it's over 100 a month, some of those are phone calls, some of those are in-person meetings.

We'll do things like accompany people to appointments to do some advocacy for them, as well, with other service providers. So I think that's really another core part of what we do.

l Comments: (319) 339-3172; maddy.arnold@thegazette.com