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Santa Clara County is adding its Mobile Crisis Response Team program to the Palo Alto area, where it will pair specialized clinicians with law enforcement on calls for people who are having a mental health crisis, the county announced on Tuesday.
The new staffing will serve the north county and west foothills areas, which include Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Cupertino, Saratoga and portions of San Jose. The Board of Supervisors approved the program on Tuesday, Feb. 8.
The program, which started in 2018, previously served the central part of the county with one team dedicated to the southern end of the county. The program seeks to de-escalate crisis situations and divert individuals away from hospital emergency rooms or jail, and toward alternative means such as counseling, a sobering center, a respite program or mediation through a crisis stabilization unit.
The new program would add four additional staff members to specifically cover the District 5 geographic area. The mobile teams initially screen and assess crisis situations by phone and intervene wherever the crisis is taking place. They provide an immediate response for crisis intervention services at locations throughout the county. The dedicated north county/west valley team will improve the ability to respond to calls quickly with a field visit, the county said.
Countywide, crisis team visits have gone from 414 in 2019 to 1,828 in 2021. Calls in that time period increased from 1,072 to nearly 5,100 last year, with spikes in volume corresponding with COVID-19 surges, the county noted.
Supervisor Joe Simitian, who represents the areas to be served, championed bringing the teams to the district.
“Our county has been working to make sure we deploy mental health help out in the community; this expanded effort will provide an even faster, better response. Getting folks the help they need — the right kind of help — on a timely basis, when and where they need it, that’s a life-saver,” he said.
The nature of calls for the response team vary. They often involve a person having a dangerous mental health crisis. They could be having a psychiatric episode, be potentially suicidal or present another situation where de-escalation and intervention can prove critical. Some calls come in from the individual in crisis, others from concerned family members or loved ones, the county said.
“Having these teams in place will mean faster deployment, and response time is crucial for someone in the midst of a mental health crisis. A caring, compassionate response delivered rapidly lets an individual know that they are valued, that they are being taken seriously, and that we want to help,” county Behavioral Health Services Director Sherri Terao said.
The new positions are expected to be filled and active in the summer. In addition to the team, a Psychiatric Emergency Response Team serves the north county and west valley areas. Future plans include ramping up support services for calls that don’t require assistance from law enforcement and integrating children, youth, and family and adult/older adult mobile services through federal grant funding in the coming months, the county said.
Santa Clara County residents may call the Mobile Crisis Response Team at 800-704-0900 and select option 2. Staff are available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. A clinician is available at the same number 24/7 to assess the situation and connect callers with appropriate services, including field response to callers needing immediate assistance.
More information is available at tinyurl.com/33ccdepc.
Help is available
Any person who is feeling depressed, troubled or suicidal can call 800-784-2433 to speak with a crisis counselor. People in Santa Clara County can call 855-278-4204. Spanish speakers can call 888-628-9454.
People can reach trained counselors at Crisis Text Line by texting 741741.
Read more: How to help those in crisis