Five County Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team
by Gina DeMent, Public Information Officer
Five County Mental Health Authority
“Sandra” had been behaving strangely for a few weeks.
She was living at a local shelter and had started threatening other residents. One evening, the shelter staff reported to the director that Sandra had a knife and said she threatened to kill herself or someone else.
In this situation, a call to law enforcement would be natural. But Sandra obviously needed immediate attention for mental health issues as well. Fortunately, the staff was able to access services through one phone call to the Five County Helpline Number (1.877.619.3761) where they contacted the Mobile Crisis Intervention Team.
These teams consist of licensed mental health professionals who assess individuals experiencing a mental health crisis in the community.
The Five County Mobile Crisis Team, under the auspices of Holly Hill Hospital, spearheads the response to psychiatric emergencies in all five counties it serves – Franklin, Granville, Halifax, Vance and Warren.
The team is available 24/7/365. It provides short term crisis response, stabilization and intervention for adults and children experiencing a mental health, substance abuse, or developmental disabilities crisis.
This service usually begins with a call to the Five County Mental Health Authority’s Helpline service at 1.877.619.3761 which coordinates efforts among all parties, including the individual in crisis, family members, community agencies, law enforcement, and healthcare professionals. The Helpline staff will immediately dispatch the Mobile Crisis Team, directing them to the best location to serve the consumer in crisis.
Typically, this involves a member of the Crisis Team going to a doctor’s office, a provider’s office, to the schools, the jails, the local ER’s, (e.g. Maria Parham Hospital, Granville Medical Center, or Franklin Regional Hospital), and at times at the consumer’s home, if there are no safety issues.
The Mobile Crisis Team will conduct a Clinical Assessment and provide services needed to help the person effectively de-escalate and address the situation. Crisis intervention services are provided within the community to reduce barriers to service delivery, with the goal of assisting individuals in resolving the crisis, through referrals to community resources to prevent hospitalization, or facilitating safe placement in an in-patient facility when needed. Once the crisis has been stabilized, the Mobile Crisis Team and Helpline Staff will assist the consumer into the appropriate level of care from community based services, short term care at the local crisis center, or hospitalization.
Mobile Crisis Teams are a critical part of making the MH/DD/SA system work. It fills the gap in the mental health system by providing immediate service to any consumer in need, whether they have a provider or not. The goal of the crisis team is to help the consumer to more effectively manage their individual crisis without resorting to hospitalization. Many times a crisis is short-lived and the consumer is able to see other options once there is an intervention. Many times just the act of listening and allowing the consumer to share their feelings will resolve the crisis. Having this service available has reduced the need for hospitalization on numerous occasions, thus reducing the strain on the state hospital as well as other in-patient units around the state.
During business hours, Mobile Crisis has offices located in several locations. In Henderson, the Mobile Crisis Team rents two offices located at the Triumph/Carolina Behavioral Care (CBC) Office at 510 Dabney Drive. In Oxford, the office is located in the former mental health clinic located on 120 Orange Street. The Louisburg office is located in the former mental health building at 107 Industrial Drive. The newest office is located in Roanoke Rapids in the Triumph/ Carolina Behavioral Care (CBC) office located at 220 Smith Church Rd.
The Mobile Crisis Team can be reached by calling the Five County Mental health Helpline Number at 1.877.619.3761, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.