Recommendation: Mobile crisis teams
What Parents Said...
There were also times when we lived in an emergency
room for a few days, waiting for a bed to open (Oregon)
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Then you’re like there to
1 or 2 o’clock in the morning and they say you can go home.
And my child was hitting me and kicking me with a male nurse in
between us. Get yourself and go home now. (New York)
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Parents in both states reported distress at the response they received
when their child was in crisis. Instead of mental health crisis services,
families said they had had to turn to general hospital emergency rooms
ill-equipped to handle children in psychiatric crisis, which often simply
sent them home with the suggestion to “call mental health in the
morning.” If they were particularly afraid for their child’s
safety, some parents said, they were advised to call the police. The very
few families who had access to mobile mental health crisis teams said
that these crisis services were beneficial.
Mental health crisis teams should be available in all communities. At
a minimum, community mental health programs should have emergency services
available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Other medical specialities
provide such emergency care as a routine practice; mental health response
is no less urgent.
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