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Funding for mobile crisis response teams has been granted to five Indiana counties. Those teams could look like Indianapolis’ Clinician Led Community Response team, pictured here in July of 2023.
FILE Photo: Katrina Pross / WFYIIndiana is putting $5 million towards the expansion of mobile crisis response units in five counties.
The funding will support teams of responders who will help residents in the midst of mental health or substance abuse crises - serving as an alternative to calls to either EMS or 911.
“This is a really big push from them [the state] to make sure that Hoosiers across Indiana have access to the mental health crisis support that they need,” said Jasmine Black is Vice President of Community Health Impact at Black Oynx Management, a consulting company contracted by the state.
Officials said the five counties were selected for the funding based on data showing high rates of behavioral health crises and limited mobile response infrastructure.
The state selected nonprofits focused on mental health and HIV prevention efforts in St. Joseph, Lake, Porter, Allen and Vanderburgh counties.
“We looked at things like depression rates, suicide rates across our state, thinking about where episodes of psychosis take place in our communities,” Black said. “We also looked at some overdose indicators. So those indicators laid on top of a map of Indiana told us where high need was in our state for these programs.”
Black said the goal will be to provide support to community members and reduce calls to police or visits to the emergency room.
“If there's no true medical emergency, then there's no need for EMS to respond to a scene that ultimately leads to a really high bill for a client or an unpaid bill for a hospital,” she said.
Communities have called for mental health interventions that don’t involve police intervention which can sometimes escalate a situation.
“Police are a response for a concern for safety, and so if we don't have a threat of violence occurring during a crisis, then we don't need to call our police,” said Black
The crisis response teams will mostly be available through calling 988 for assistance.
In Allen and Lake counties, the funding will support 24/7 crisis response teams. The Allen County team will be focused on mental health care, and the Lake County team will focus on responding to drug overdoses.
Other teams will provide crisis response and de-escalation that leads to wraparound services, including housing.
Contact Health Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org.
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