The Virtual Crisis Care Program is transforming how communities respond to individuals in crisis, offering timely intervention and crucial support during their most challenging moments. This innovative approach leverages telehealth technology to bridge gaps in mental health services and ensure everyone, regardless of location, can access the care they urgently need.
Key Benefits of Virtual Crisis Care
Virtual Crisis Care represents a mobile crisis response model that utilizes telehealth to achieve several critical objectives:
- Expanding Access to Care: Connects individuals with prompt, professional behavioral health experts, eliminating geographical barriers to timely assistance.
- Reducing Unnecessary Hospitalizations: Minimizes emergency mental health detentions and avoidable hospital admissions by providing effective de-escalation and support in the community.
- Alleviating Law Enforcement Burden: Decreases law enforcement transports and wait times associated with in-person interventions or hospital admissions, allowing officers to focus on public safety.
- Addressing Staffing Shortages: Provides a centralized solution to overcome regional behavioral health professional shortages, ensuring consistent coverage and expert support.
The Criminal Justice Institute (CJI) has been instrumental in the planning, development, and implementation of Virtual Crisis Care programs, offering guidance and support to law enforcement and behavioral health agencies from the program’s very beginning.
“This program stands as an effective and invaluable resource for both law enforcement and the communities they serve. The ability for law enforcement to virtually connect individuals in crisis with a behavioral health professional ensures that anyone can receive the necessary care precisely when they need it. CJI remains dedicated to assisting more jurisdictions in planning and activating this program because we have witnessed firsthand the immediate and positive impact it can have on individuals and overall community safety,” emphasizes Barbara Pierce, Director of Justice Initiatives at CJI.
Core Components of the Virtual Crisis Care Program
The Virtual Crisis Care program is built upon several essential components to ensure comprehensive and effective support:
- 24/7 Accessibility: Provides continuous, round-the-clock access to qualified behavioral health professionals, ready to assist law enforcement responding to mental health crisis calls at any hour.
- Centralized Provider Model: Employs a single provider network to efficiently address regional staffing limitations and fluctuating crisis call volumes, ensuring consistent service availability.
- Virtual De-escalation and Assessment: Offers virtual support for de-escalation techniques, stabilization strategies, and thorough safety assessments, all conducted remotely by experienced professionals.
- Local Follow-Up Care Coordination: Facilitates seamless connections with local mental health providers for ongoing follow-up care, ensuring continuity of support beyond the immediate crisis.
Spotlight: South Dakota’s Pioneering Virtual Crisis Care Program
South Dakota emerged as a leader in virtual crisis care, launching a pilot program in January 2020 across 18 sheriffs’ offices and a probation department within a rural judicial circuit. This groundbreaking initiative was made possible through funding from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, forging a strong partnership between the South Dakota Sheriffs’ Association, Unified Judicial System, Avera eCare, and CJI. Recognizing the program’s success, the state legislature allocated ongoing funding in July 2021, enabling the continuation of the initial pilot sites and expansion to an additional 14 sheriffs’ offices and police departments statewide.
Data from the South Dakota program, collected between January 2020 and June 2021, highlights the remarkable impact of Virtual Crisis Care.
Remarkably, 8 out of 10 individuals in crisis situations were successfully diverted from involuntary hospitalization thanks to the Virtual Crisis Care program.
The South Dakota experience serves as a compelling example of the transformative potential of Virtual Crisis Care programs in improving crisis response and mental health support within communities.
For further information about implementing Virtual Crisis Care in your community, please contact Barbara Pierce at [email protected].
