The expanded services should allow the center to handle 400 to 600 extra visits a month, on top of the 800 to 1,000 adults who already visit each month.
1 of 2 DeeAnna Robins, a registered nurse, sits at the nurses station in the observation unit inside the Crisis Response Center. The center provides 24/7 access to mental health and substance use services for both youth and adults.
Tucsonans often wait more than a month to access nonemergency mental health or behavioral health services, so the expansion will fill a sizable gap and provide critically needed care, the Crisis Response Center's operators say.to meet needsIn Tucson there is a five- to six-week wait to see a psychiatrist and in Phoenix the wait time extends up to three months, said Colin LeClair, CEO of Connections Health Solutions.
Today, the center accepts everyone, including people who are psychotic, intoxicated and a danger to themselves or others, who are often turned away from other behavioral health providers and instead taken to jail, Balfour said. Connections’ founders created the observation model 30 years ago to give patients a better alternative than the emergency room. Connections itself was founded in 2009, giving high-risk patients an immediate solution, with the ultimate goal of keeping them out of hospitals and getting them connected with community-based care and access to services.
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Tucson police Sgt. Jason Winsky, who oversees the Police Department's Mental Health Support Team, said the expanded services will not only help people needing services, but also officers, who are often the first point of contact for a person in crisis. The two-story facility houses the crisis center on the ground floor, with separate waiting areas, triage, exam rooms and observation units for adults and youths.
The crisis center staff includes social workers, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, peer support specialists, case managers and patient care techs. There are no security guards in the unit, but patient care techs and other staff members are trained to keep a close eye on patients and to check in and engage with them often.
"In the mental health field right now there are finite resources. State budgets aren’t growing, so we're going into this assuming there are not more dollars and resources coming. We’re on our own," LeClair said. From there, the Crisis Response Center staff will work with patients to figure out coverage options, but no one goes untreated.
The center's transitional services will provide post-observation care for people who have completed their 23-hour stay, as well as for patients who come through the center's urgent care portion. He and Balfour are readying the center for its expanded services by increasing staffing and reconfiguring spaces. When everything is done, the center should have the capacity to serve between 400 and 600 extra visits a month, on top of the 800 to 1,000 adults who already visit the center each month.
"A three-digit mental health crisis line has the potential to give people a lot more access to care, but if you're asking an operator for help, there needs to be something past the phone call," Balfour said.
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