CHS expands, retrains mental health crisis team
By Paul Swiech, The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The change follows several reports by community groups and a federal consultant that found crisis services lacking in the community. Renewal of a CHS crisis grant by the
"We have a much deeper bench," said
"I am pleased from a funder's perspective," said
The mobile team responds to mental health crises, such as people threatening suicide or experiencing severe depressive or psychotic symptoms. Frequently, individuals face other crises, such as lack of permanent housing or trying to hold onto their job, said
Training or re-training of crisis team members is being performed by PATH and CHS. All team members must spend at least an hour in PATH's crisis call center room.
"I don't know that the training was what it should be," Zangerle said. "Training has changed since the 1980s."
Zangerle said team members are being trained using "best practices" in mental health crisis response. That includes trying to see people less frequently in emergency departments and more frequently in their homes where they are comfortable and more willing to work on solutions.
PATH also has received
The team goes to wherever the person is in crisis, including hospital emergency departments, the CHS office in downtown
CHS crisis data for April through June showed 4.9 percent of the callers were seen in their homes while 64.9 percent were in local hospitals and 25.5 percent at CHS. Zangerle said Barr's initial concern that workers could be in danger in homes has changed and the new policy should help reduce the burden on hospitals.
Until recently, the team had eight members -- four mobile on-call staff, two in-house staff for people who came to CHS, one program manager and one coordinator, Barr said.
Now the team has 13 members -- nine mobile staff, one in-house staff, one program manager and two coordinators, Barr said.
The expanded team takes effect on
"All the staff is hired but we're still doing some training," said CHS crisis program manager
Until five or six years ago, the crisis team had at least two people on call. But changes in staffing patterns so team members wouldn't burn out by working long hours reduced that to one person on call with a clinical person who could step in as a backup, Barr said. That resulted in some response delays during non-peak periods.
Adding to the crisis team means the team will return to having a minimum of two people on call at all times, Barr said.
"For us, going back to two people on call is a tremendous boost," Zangerle said. "We've been talking about this for five years. It's the community getting involved that made the difference."
Involvement of the
"The
CHS -- in cooperation with the health department and PATH -- has been able to respond by moving money around, thanks in part to the Affordable Care Act.
For the fiscal year that ended
For the fiscal year that began
Because of the Affordable Care Act and
"I'm excited for where we're going to go," Moser said.
"We know this is a beginning," Beavers said.
-- Reporter
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