|
|
 | | |
Mobile Crisis Outreach Team Now Available
Austin Travis County MHMR has added to its services a Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (MCOT). The purpose of this team is to offer mobile mental health services to residents of Travis County who are unable or unwilling to go to settings such as Psychiatric Emergency Services for help in a mental health crisis.
The team works in close conjunction with the Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) of Austin Police Department (APD) and Travis County Sheriff’s Department (TCSO). MCOT provides psychiatric assessments, crisis intervention services including possible medication prescribing, brief follow-up, and service linkage for adults and children/youth in non-clinical, community settings.
ATCMHMR’s MCOT team is available 7 days a week from 10 am – 8 pm. The team consists of a Registered Nurse and a Licensed Therapist. In addition, an Advanced Practice Nurse with prescriptive authority is available four hours a day, five days a week, to see clients and prescribe medication.
Referrals to the MCOT may come from:
- Individuals or their families or others who are concerned about their condition
- Law enforcement authorities
- PES staff, if they have seen an individual who has left before getting help
- Other concerned individuals
Some of the goals of the MCOT are to:
- Decrease the frequency with which law enforcement must become involved with mentally ill individuals because of their lack of linkage to appropriate resources.
- Assist in following up with individuals who have recently been discharged from inpatient hospitalization but have not become engaged in scheduled aftercare.
- Stabilize clients and resolve crises in the least restrictive environment.
- Coordinate with PES and the two CITs, and other entities, in arrangement of hospitalization or crisis respite.
In the month of July, the team provided 198 face-to-face services to a total of 71 unduplicated clients. Of these, 65 were adults and 6 were minors. 33% of referrals came from family/self, 35% from community and other providers, 12% from law enforcement, and 20% from other.
The MCOT can be reached by calling PES at (512) 454-3521.
The Mobile Crisis Outreach Team looks forward to developing more contacts and linkage with community agencies and individuals. We hope that NAMI members can spread the word of its availability!
— Reid Minot, Austin Travis County MHMR
|
|
|
| | |
|
Austin
