Guest column: County collaboration is making mobile crisis services successful

Aug. 29, 2023
Original op-ed in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle can be found here.

By Paige Bichler

Every day, the Connections Health Solutions mobile crisis team meets at the Bozeman safety center. The team reviews voicemails and emails for referrals, answers inbound requests, and monitors systems for potential behavioral health emergencies to dispatch the team. Some days the team helps two people in crisis, other days the number could be as high as eight.

No matter how the day starts, we know that it is not the quantity of calls we answer that matters, rather, it is the quality of care we deliver to individuals in crisis and the quality of the relationships we have built with our system partners that have the biggest impact.

The role of the mobile crisis team

Mobile crisis teams play a critical role in responding to mental health crises and providing individualized care and support. The Connections mobile crisis team is comprised of local behavioral health professionals who have completed more than 200 hours in emergency intervention training, safety planning, and de-escalation and provide on-scene evaluation, treatment, and crisis mitigation.

We work to stabilize crises while ensuring people are safe and provided with the care they need. The goal is to not only to address the crisis call, but to find a way to prevent future crises. We know that our goal cannot and will not be achieved without strong collaboration across the county and the behavioral health continuum.

The power of partnership

Since the launch of mobile crisis, law enforcement, The Help Center, 988, and 911 have incorporated the team into their workflows allowing access that provides a window into the situation before arriving onsite. This collaboration at the onset allows for more productive on-scene evaluation, treatment, and crisis intervention.

“While, on average, 75% of people who reach out to The Help Center crisis lines are stabilized and kept safe, having mobile crisis for the 25% of people who may need further care has been a tremendous help to our community,” said Christina Powell, executive director of The Help Center. “The Connections mobile team has been dedicated to our shared goal — to give people the appropriate support and services they need, right when they need it. Whether over the phone, through telehealth, or right there in their home — people in our community have avenues for help and support.”

“With the Connections mobile team taking control of behavioral crisis scenes, our team can do the jobs they were trained to do,” Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said. “We are grateful for their partnership, the professionalism, and dignity they extend to the members of the community they treat and care for. We look forward to expanding the program to provide further support for individuals in need.”

“Bozeman Police acknowledge the importance of behavioral health specialists in responding to mental health crises,” said Andy Knight, deputy police chief with the Bozeman Police Department. “The Connections mobile crisis team has been doing incredible work, ensuring those in need receive proper care without relying on law enforcement. This enables officers to focus on maintaining the safety of the Bozeman community.”

Strong partnerships yield impressive outcomes

Over the past year, it has been our privilege to serve the community and gain the trust of so many who have allowed us to be there during an extremely difficult time.

We are proud of the work we’ve done to date alongside The Help Center and our law enforcement partners and are grateful for the support of the county. The Connections mobile crisis team has successfully supported 83% of individuals address their crisis onsite. Individuals seen by the team in need of a higher level of care have been successfully referred to the appropriate levels of care, ensuring that they have a clear path to stabilization and treatment. Due to the success of the program, we have been able to expand operations to 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the community to further improve crisis response in Gallatin County and help more people get high-quality crisis care, when — and where — they need it.

Paige Bichler, MSN, RN, is the vice president of clinical operations with Connections Health Solutions.