A New Crisis Intervention for Children and Teens

Mobile Response and Stabilization Services A New Crisis Intervention for Children and Teens

Too many children are making unnecessary trips to hospital emergency rooms with mental health issues. It’s a growing concern across the country, here in Vermont, and particularly in Rutland County. The pandemic has only made it worse. But what choice does a parent have, when their child appears to be spiraling toward a crisis? A new Mobile Response program being piloted in Rutland County offers muchneeded home and community-based intervention services for children and families in need of support and stabilization, and a diversion from the emergency department.

CCN’s new Mobile Response and Stabilization Services, or MRSS, began service provision in Rutland County in September, funded by a grant from the Vermont Department of Mental Health. Working in tandem with the Crisis Services team, MRSS is designed to support families during the early stages of crisis and to help prevent situations from escalating toward emergency levels.

Rutland County was selected to pilot the program because, on average, more young people visit the hospital emergency room with mental health issues here than in other parts of the state. Those visits often become extended stays as children wait for treatment.

“When a child is waiting in the emergency room, that’s really not a therapeutic environment,” says Doug Norford, Director of Child and Family Services. “It’s a safe environment – and that’s got to be a priority – but a kid is not getting treatment. So this was seen as a way of potentially getting families the support they need, when they need it, and not hospitalizing kids unnecessarily.”

When fully staffed, the new program will have three separate mobile response teams, each made up of a clinician and a case manager or peer support person. The team will provide in-home assessment, deescalation, crisis planning and resource referral to help a family access the most appropriate services. A key component to rolling out the new program is educating the community on the distinction between Mobile Response and Crisis Response.

“From our perspective, when a person is in imminent danger of hurting themselves or others – that is how we define an emergency. That is the criteria for hospitalization. So, we want to get to the child’s home, we want to talk to the family, we want to see what their resources are for being able to manage that situation, and we want to assess the child’s ability to manage that, develop a safety plan with them, and provide ongoing communication.”

Information sheets have been distributed to schools, physicians, DCF, and other community partners, and a brochure is in the works to provide to families. Norford says that process will take some time, but in the interim the two programs will support each other seamlessly.

“We’ve tried to set it up so that there are no wrong doors. We’ve had a couple of situations where families have called us directly, but most have come through Crisis, or been referred by an internal staff member. I think the families really appreciate the immediate response, and also that we come out to their homes.”

Nationwide labor shortages and recruiting difficulties have posed staffing challenges for the new program, but the intent is to expand services and hours over time, to effectively serve every corner of Rutland County.

“A lot depends upon how well we staff ourselves. We are modeling this program after others around the country with successful outcomes. Our hope is that Mobile Response will be a well-used program with good outcomes for our Rutland County families, and will become a mainstay of our programming.”

Rutland County families in need of immediate support can call the Mobile Response team at (802) 345-3080.

Scan here to watch a video about Mobile Response and Stabilization Services.

(From left to right) Becky Day, Manager; Hannah Shirley, Clinician; Lyss Eaton, Case Manager