Montana ranks 50th out of 51 states in adult mental health care with one of the highest rates of mental illness and lowest access to treatment. Gallatin County’s mobile crisis response team offers a potential model for rural communities struggling with gaps in behavioral health services.
Individuals in crisis in Montana often have few options, with geographic distance forcing people to seek specialized inpatient care at one of two behavioral health hospitals located nearly 240 miles apart. The lack of a true 72-hour involuntary hold process and a deteriorating state hospital have resulted in individuals being released back into communities without appropriate treatment or follow-up. Law enforcement often functions as makeshift social workers, diverting resources from public safety.
Connections Health Solutions restructured Gallatin County’s program starting in 2022, evolving it into a mobile crisis response team focused on four key areas: proper identification of mental health calls, building trusted partnerships, developing creative solutions for access, and leveraging data for improvement. Dispatchers manage approximately 14,000 emergency calls monthly. Using Computer Assisted Dispatch data, the team identified mental health calls and created heat maps to optimize resource allocation. With law enforcement access to the CAD system, the team proactively stages near locations where 911 calls have come in, achieving a response time of less than 11.9 minutes more than 90% of the time.
The team partnered with Help Center, Inc., which operates the 988 hotline, enabling direct dispatch for civilian-first response. They also provide mental health evaluations in jails, work with psychiatric emergency services units, and offer services at warming shelters, reaching particularly vulnerable populations in safe settings without requiring law enforcement involvement.
Data demonstrates a 77% average reduction in law enforcement time spent on mental health calls, allowing officers to focus on public safety. The team maintains an 86% success rate keeping individuals in the community, diverting them from jails and emergency departments. Additional funding is needed for long-term program sustainability, and the team continues building partnerships with underserved rural communities.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/montana-s-mental-health-crisis-how-1-county-s-mobile-crisis-response-team-is-filling-gaps-and-saving-lives