Dallas’ RIGHT Care Program, designed to divert people experiencing mental health emergencies from jails and hospitals, is expanding to provide services to children and adolescents. Since 2018, the program has deployed teams made up of a paramedic, a social worker, and police officer when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis. Now, the program is testing two teams that expand services to mental health-related 911 calls involving minors between 3 and 11 p.m. daily.
Team Composition and Approach
The Rapid Integrated Group Healthcare Team, or RIGHT Care program, was created to stabilize patients in the field and connect them to community-based services when clinically appropriate. A RIGHT Care team can get involved in a call in two ways: the teams scan 911 calls as they come in to review and join whenever appropriate, or teams can be requested through 911 calls, the person in crisis, or a responder already on scene. On a call without a RIGHT Care team, patrol officers try to deescalate and determine if the person needs hospital evaluation. When the RIGHT Care team is dispatched, the team’s police officer makes first contact to ensure the scene is safe. After the officer determines there are no weapons or danger, the paramedic and clinicians join. The paramedic makes an assessment ensuring the patient doesn’t need hospital care for medical needs, and the clinician does a psychosocial assessment to identify the best plan going forward, which might include taking the patient directly to a behavioral health clinic for same-day treatment, helping refill medication, or addressing additional social needs like housing or food access.
Expansion for Minors
Different policies apply when approaching adolescents compared to adults. The RIGHT Care program aims to have staff more experienced in working with adolescents and juveniles. Minors in crisis require additional considerations: “Sometimes when we’re coming out to this call, it’s not just the kid who’s in need, it’s also the parents. It’s the family unit that we have to address for care.” Families have already been providing positive feedback on the new pilot program, with an important part being ability to connect parents and families to resources.
Early Pilot Results
In the first month and a half of the pilot, RIGHT Care teams answered 63 calls, of which 59 were diverted from jails and a majority were also diverted from hospitals. The city will continue gathering data as the pilot program continues. The goal is to see if expanding the program would have a positive effect on the individuals in crisis, the families that need support, and the broader community.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.keranews.org/health-wellness/2026-05-08/right-care-mental-health-crisis-response-teams-dallas-parkland-expand-teens-kids-pilot-program