While mobile crisis response units have proliferated in cities across the county over the past two years, there are far fewer programs in rural areas. That’s because “even though mental illness is just as prevalent” in rural America, “those areas are bigger and have fewer mental health professionals than cities do”—Tony Leys and Arielle Zionts report for Kaiser Health News in a story featuring a new mobile crisis responder effort in rural Iowa. The whole article is worth a read, but here is the key excerpt:
“Jeff White knows what can happen when 911 dispatchers receive a call about someone who feels despondent or agitated. He experienced it repeatedly: The 911 operators dispatched police, who often took him to a hospital or jail. ‘They don’t know how to handle people like me,’ said White, who struggles with depression and schizophrenia. In most of those instances, he said, what he really needed was someone to help him calm down and find follow-up care. That’s now an option, thanks to a crisis response team serving his area. Instead of calling 911, he can contact a state-run hotline and request a visit from mental health professionals. The teams are dispatched by a program that serves 18 mostly rural counties in central and northern Iowa. The service costs him nothing. The team’s goal is to stabilize people at home instead of admitting them to a crowded psychiatric unit or jailing them for behaviors stemming from mental illness.”