Citation

Rafla-Yuan E. Psychiatr. Serv. 2023; 74(7): e673.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, American Psychiatric Association)

DOI

10.1176/appi.ps.23074012

PMID

37392052

Abstract

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline launched nationwide on July 16, 2022, marking a shift in the accessibility and provision of crisis services in the United States. The 988 line ideally serves as both an intervention and an entry point to a continuum of care. Community-based mobile crisis teams, capable of quickly responding to individuals in need, serve as the next step in a continuum approach, their development paralleling that of emergency medical services established 50 years ago with emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and ambulances. Mobile crisis response has great promise for providing targeted and clinically appropriate assessment and care, decreasing utilization of more restrictive and expensive levels of care, and reducing reliance on police for psychiatric intervention.

Elected officials and policy makers have taken notice of this potential, and federal funding for 988 and crisis services has increased exponentially, being administered and overseen by a newly authorized 988 and Behavioral Health Crisis Coordinating Office within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Many state and local governments have also begun to invest in these services through budgetary appropriations or legislative action. It is critically important that this funding be allocated to implement services that provide communities with a trustworthy alternative to law enforcement response for behavioral health emergencies.

More data are needed to guide evidence-based best practices for rapid response, team composition, training standards for team members, and effectiveness and quality metrics and to gain a deeper understanding of the benefits of reducing reliance on law enforcement as de facto mental health clinicians. Two recent studies indicate progress in closing this gap, one by demonstrating an improved measure of mobile crisis response (1), the other by demonstrating mobile crisis effectiveness in reducing utilization of higher levels of care...

Language: en