Anthony Wayne Rehabilitation Center (AWRC) dba Benchmark Human Services was recently awarded a contract through the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) Division of Mental Health and Addiction (DMHA) to implement a pilot project for behavioral health mobile crisis services in DeKalb, LaGrange, and Steuben counties. The goals of the pilot are to, prevent fatalities from suicide, drug overdose, and other mental health and substance use emergencies, and better serve individuals in crisis outside of hospitals, emergency departments, and jails.
Through the mobile crisis services pilot, multidisciplinary teams of certified peer specialists and behavioral health professionals will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to respond to individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis wherever they are in the community. AWRC will partner with local law enforcement, first responders, hospitals, emergency departments, probate judges, community mental health centers, and other mental health and substance use providers to ensure individuals in crisis receive a warm handoff to the AWRC Crisis Team.
The teams will intervene and support individuals in crisis, stabilizing the immediate situation and linking the individual to appropriate resources in their communities. These services will circumvent the traditional trajectory of individuals in crisis going into hospitals, jails, and other settings that do not appropriately address their needs and are more restrictive than community-based services.
The one-year Mobile Crisis pilot went live Tuesday, January 3, 2023 in Steuben County. LaGrange County went live January 9 and DeKalb County will go live on January 16. Individuals can access services by calling 9-8-8, the national mental health crisis hotline.
About AWRC
Established in 1960 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, AWRC is a human services agency serving children and adults with disabilities and individuals with behavioral health needs. Combined, AWRC and its sister company, Benchmark Human Services, provide care for over 15,000 individuals throughout 17 states.