Psychiatric Crisis Response Team

Our psychiatric crisis response team is available 24/7/365 to provide face-to-face emergency psychiatric evaluations for seniors presenting with symptoms that may warrant psychiatric hospitalization.

The emergency psychiatric evaluation occurs in response to thoughts, feelings, or urges to act that are intolerable to the patient, or to behavior that prompts urgent action such as violent or self-injurious behavior, threats of harm to self or others, failure to care for oneself, bizarre or confused behavior, or intense expressions of distress.

Our Psychiatric Crisis Response Team Goals

The aim of our emergency psychiatric evaluation is to:

1. Assess and enhance the safety of the patient and others.
2. Establish a provisional diagnosis or diagnoses of the mental disorder(s) most likely to be responsible for the current emergency, including any general medical condition(s) or substance use that is causing or contributing to the patient’s mental condition.
3. Identify family or other involved persons who can give information that will help the assessor determine the accuracy of the reported history, particularly if the patient is cognitively impaired, agitated, or experiencing psychosis and has difficulty communicating a history of events.
4. Identify any current treatment providers who can give information relevant to the evaluation.
5. Identify social, environmental, and cultural factors relevant to immediate treatment decisions.
6. Determine whether the patient is able and willing to form an alliance that will support further assessment and treatment, what precautions are needed if there is a substantial risk of harm to self or others, and whether involuntary treatment is necessary.
7. Develop a specific plan for follow-up, including immediate treatment and disposition; determine whether the patient requires treatment in a hospital or other supervised setting and what follow-up will be required if the patient is not placed in a supervised setting.

When necessary, the full psychiatric evaluation will be shared with local psychiatric hospitals for admission. If it is determined that the senior does not meet criteria for hospitalization, crisis de escalation and resources to address symptoms will be provided.

Response Time

Our clinical team member will respond within 2 hours of contact under normal conditions. Exceptions to the response time include an influx of crisis calls which will occasionally cause a delay.

Cost

For insured seniors a claim will be generated and submitted to their insurance provider for the Medicare allowable rate. Uninsured/under insured seniors will be responsible for the cost of service at the time of service at the rate of $100 for the first 60 minutes and $50 per 30 minutes thereafter. To further address the concern of financial hardship, we are in communication with local organizations regarding grants for seniors in need of the service without insurance or the financial means to cover the service.

Clinical Staff

Services will be provided by qualified mental health professionals to include licensed clinical social workers, licensed professional counselors, psychologists, and clinically supervised licensed master social workers.

On mobile, click to call our Crisis Phone Number 24/7/365!