In collaboration with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services and the Montana Public Health Institute, we are helping lead and organize the work of 32 communities across the state to rebuild their behavioral health crisis response systems using Crisis Now.
The behavioral health crisis system is the system that people interact with when they are experiencing an overdose, suicide attempt, or other mental health emergency. Traditionally, this system could only provide emergency personnel – like EMS or police – in response to behavioral health crises. This approach was expensive, strained local emergency resources, and jails and ERs are often not the best places to treat people experiencing behavioral health crises.
Crisis Now provides people in crisis with appropriate levels of care according to their needs and avoids unnecessary interactions with emergency medical or law enforcement services. This model is well-suited for Montana because it can be adapted to work successfully in urban, Indigenous, and rural communities.
Crisis Now Model One-Pager
SPOTLIGHT
Crisis System Progress
Efforts to implement the Crisis Now Model are still early in many communities. The ones that have begun are already seeing significant drops in behavioral health-related ER admissions and incarcerations.
In 2023, there were 6,634 calls to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, 4,751 of which were resolved over the phone. Mobile crisis response teams in 10 counties had 5,346 engagements, serving 2,707 people and avoiding an estimated 588 ER visits.
Each county and tribe works with health care providers, law enforcement, behavioral health professionals, and other partners to customize and develop their crisis services according to their needs and resources.
Our Approach: Crisis Now Model
Crisis Now is a national best-practice model that helps reduce unnecessary interactions with law enforcement and emergency services by providing people in crisis with:
- Someone to Call: The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline provides 24-hour support and care coordination over the phone. The call center’s crisis counselors can resolve most problems. Watch a video of what this looks like in Montana.
- Someone to Respond: When a person needs more support, a centrally deployed crisis response team staffed by behavioral health professionals travels to the person to provide care, minimizing the impact on emergency medical services or law enforcement involvement.
Watch a video of what this looks like in Montana. - Somewhere to Go: A 24/7 crisis center offers safe, supportive care for people who the crisis response team cannot stabilize. These community-based facilities provide people in crisis with rapid, short-term assessment and treatment in a calm, therapeutic environment.
Watch a video of what this looks like in Montana.
Our Support
Along with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services crisis diversion grants, we provide grants and technical assistance to support community planning, development, and implementation of Crisis Now. Our support helps communities develop coalitions, complete system mapping to align behavioral health and criminal justice system resources, implement strategies to respond to behavioral health crises more effectively and identify sustainable crisis funding sources. Regional collaboratives are prioritized. All funding under this initiative is by invitation only.
Contact
If you have a question about this initiative, please email our program team.