A behavioral health crisis can be devastating, and even traumatic, for individuals, families, and our communities. Although we cannot know when a crisis may occur, we can create a system that is agile and responsive when the need arises. A key component of our state’s crisis system is mobile crisis response teams that can be rapidly deployed to the location of the crisis and provide crisis assessment and stabilization services to anyone, anywhere, and at any time.

CoLab for Community & Behavioral Health Policy is partnering with Kyrill Gurtovenko, PhD, and the Washington State Health Care Authority to develop training for the mobile crisis response teams that provide immediate help and brief support (up to eight weeks) for families until the family and youth can get into longer term treatment. The clinical framework will be informed by Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Parent Management Training, and other evidence-based practices and crisis intervention frameworks for high acuity youth in Washington State. This behavioral health intervention will be embedded into the broader Washington State Mobile Response and Stabilization Services (MRSS) plan in Pierce and Spokane counties, with the aim that it will eventually be deployed statewide. This project is funded through the Health Care Authority’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration System of Care Grant SM086163.