This project is designed to enhance and streamline existing crisis care in Genesee County, Michigan with the goal of increased hospital and jail diversion through a cooperative partnership. - SAMSHA FY 2022 Cooperative Agreements for Innovative Community Crisis Response Partnerships
Genesee Health System’s Abstract Summary
This program will serve residents of Genesee County, Michigan with behavioral health care needs that experience acute crises and escalation of symptoms. Genesee County Michigan has a population of approximately 400,000 individuals. Residents of Genesee County have experienced varying levels of personal and environmental trauma from the Flint Water Crisis, an increase in community violence, and the lingering impact of the covid-19 pandemic. The intended goal of this project is to provide comprehensive mobile crisis care in Genesee County, increase jail and hospital diversion and improve access to mental health treatment, by ensuring adequate post-crisis care. The target population is those that are most under resourced in Genesee County, such as individuals who are uninsured or underinsured, veterans, and those that are most disconnected from midtown; which is also home to the county government, the majority of social service organizations, and the county hospital which is the region’s only Level 1 Trauma center. GHS has just launched a mental health co-response program in partnership with Genesee County Sheriff’s Dept. This program needs further development. One of the goals of this project would be to partner with the County 911 communications center to develop a mental health-specific dispatch code to flag mental health-related calls. Law enforcement will be utilized when a call comes through dispatch indicating there may be imminent safety risks. GHS has already began to work with 988 (miCal) to receive referrals for behavioral health crisis care. We aspire to use this avenue to further provide mobile crisis services. We anticipate these calls will come into GHS’s main phone line or directly to the urgent care itself. Staff will be trained to utilize a decision tree to indicate whether crisis calls warrant law enforcement co-response or simply a mobile crisis call. Goals include: Improved access to behavioral health services, improve the proper disposition of mental health calls, hospital/jail diversion, timely access to crisis services as well as enhancing Genesee County’s crisis continuum. GHS cannot independently accomplish the goals listed above. GHS currently works with mental health providers in the community through an existing provider network. Further, GHS has an existing Memorandum of Understanding with several local law enforcement agencies, as well as an established relationship with the Genesee County 911 Consortium. Given the geographic expanse of Genesee County, and the reported 5,000 mental health-related calls that come through the service center. There is a need to centralize the current crisis service offerings, as this fragmented approach, generally confuses community members and results in low service utilization and heavy dependence on law enforcement or the hospital emergency department.
