Mobile Crisis Mental Health Response Programs are increasingly being deployed by departments around the country which deploy mental health providers in addition to, or instead of, law enforcement, for emergency responses to psychiatric crises.

It’s an approach that mental health advocates have championed for decades. Numerous communities around the nation now have what are called mobile crisis teams (MCTs) to deploy trained professionals in response to people experiencing mental health episode crisis often without the presence of the police. 

One of the longest-running and most well-known programs in the nation is called CAHOOTS, or Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets. The program, launched in 1989 by the White Bird Clinic in Eugene, Oregon, is funded both by the county and by the Eugene Police Department, which funnels emergency response calls for noncriminal, nonviolent behavioral issues to their MCTs. 

To learn more about these programs, the various models being employed and the success of the CAHOOTS program, click here to download your 2-pager and get started for your city or department.