New Crisis Guidelines from SAMHSA

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REPORTS

Essential reading for mobile team members and stakeholders has arrived from SAMHSA; the 2025 National Guidelines for a Behavioral Health Coordinated System of Crisis Care - DRAFT.

Three goals of SAMHSA are achieved in this report (and the only missing element is the executive summary).

1. Establish overarching principles for behavioral health crisis system transformation;
2. Clarify the various elements that comprise the continuum; and
3. Offer guidance for communities so they can better understand the resources needed to implement and sustain behavioral health crisis systems and services.

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HEADLINES

NORTHAMPTON - Former City Employees Speak Out (The Shoestring)

Northampton’s Division of Community Care was born of activist demands for an alternative to policing. But some former employees say the agency has strayed from its mandate.

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RICHMOND - ‘Meet people where they are’: Special teams aid Virginia’s efforts to expand mental health care services (Virginia Mercury)

Richmond’s Crisis Response and Stabilization Team (CReST) response to calls for help can range from de-escalating situations over the phone to dispatching clinicians to meet with people directly. Sometimes patients need immediate counseling and connections to follow-up resources like therapists or psychiatrists. Sometimes they might need to be admitted to crisis receiving centers — which operate like emergency rooms in hospitals, but focus on mental health.

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ST PAUL - Ramsey County will no longer bill people for mobile crisis response services (Fox9.com)

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PITTSBURGH - Allegheny County's new alternative response to mental health, human service emergencies (WTAE.com)

Jon Chillinsky of Resources for Human Development, "We get a call straight from 911 from the call center whenever they're requested from the police departments in those municipalities. So as we get a call, our teams get ready, and they hit the ground and are in the van driving within four minutes of that call, ringing our office space."

"(In) a lot of our calls, individuals are in a state of psychosis. They are having delusions or escalated (circumstances). Sometimes, we mediate between domestic disputes. Sometimes, we will arrive if it's a criminal case, but after the police have taken care of the issue on hand there. Or maybe (assist) some family members that are going through a crisis.”

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ALBANY - New York moves to reform mental health crisis response, limit police involvement (Fingerlakes1)

READ - Daniel’s Law Task Force Report

A state task force has called for sweeping changes to New York’s behavioral health crisis response, recommending a system that prioritizes health-led interventions and reduces law enforcement involvement in mental health crises. The Daniel’s Law Task Force report, named in memory of Daniel Prude, outlines a two-pronged approach to transform crisis response statewide, focusing on trauma-informed care and community-based services.

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OPPORTUNITIES

Boston is looking for a Mental Health Crisis Community Response Services Consultant. Here’s the RFP.

Atlanta’s PAD has a paid data internship which looks very cool.