West Valley is getting more dedicated mental health specialists to help with crisis response and stress reduction.
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted on February 8 to expand the county’s Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT) program in the West Foothills and North County.
The program, which began in 2018, pairs specialized doctors with law enforcement to respond to people who may be experiencing a mental health crisis. Their goal is to de-escalate situations and connect people with counseling, a respite program, mediation, or a sobriety center instead of an emergency department or jail.
Assigning more staff members to this region will allow teams to get to people in crisis faster, said Supervisor Joe Simitian, who represents North County and the West Valley.
“We are talking about moments of crisis in which minutes can matter. If someone is literally an hour or two away, depending on traffic and the time of day, that can have really serious consequences,” Simitian said in an interview.
The county added four staff members to cover District 5, which includes Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Cupertino, Saratoga, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View and Almaden Valley in San Jose. These new positions are scheduled to be filled by the summer.
Most of the calls involve someone having a “dangerous mental health crisis,” a psychiatric episode or another situation that needs de-escalation, the county said in the news release.
Adding more staff members to MCRT teams is aimed at speeding up deployment and response time, which can be crucial for someone experiencing a mental health emergency, said County Behavioral Health Services Director Sherri Terao.
Simitian said the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the number of people requiring mental health services, while also making access to them more difficult.
Demand for the program’s services has skyrocketed in the last two years. Visits to the MCRT have more than doubled from 414 in 2019 to 1,828 in 2021 countywide, and the number of calls made to the center increased from 1,072 to nearly 5,100 last year.
“Demand for these services has skyrocketed,” Simitian said. “It’s really puzzling, but also undeniable; the number of callers needing help goes up and up and up. There is no doubt that there is a greater need.
“Perhaps the need has never been greater at a time when services are becoming increasingly difficult to access, which is why the fact that these are mobile devices is so important, and why it is so important that they can be in a scene in an affair. of moments,” she added.
Federal grant funds will be used to increase call support services that do not require law enforcement and to add more mobile services for children, young families and seniors.
Residents can call the MCRT at 1-800-704-0900 and select option 2. Staff is available Monday through Friday, 8 am to 8 pm A doctor is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. week to connect people with the appropriate services.
The program first worked with local police to more effectively respond to mental health emergencies. before it expanded to cover reports made by the public.
“I think there is an increased awareness and support for trying to find alternatives to traditional law enforcement responses in these mental health emergencies,” Simitian said. “I think it’s a very healthy development. We ask a lot of law enforcement; expecting them to be trained mental health clinicians is an unreasonable expectation. You want to have the right answer in the moment, and that’s what these teams do.”
