Mobile crisis units will offer mental health assistance across Wayne County
(WWJ) - People in Wayne County will have a new way of getting help with a mental health crisis, officials said.
Starting Monday, 12 mobile crisis units will be rolled out across Wayne County to help serve "individuals who may be in a mental health or substance use crisis and may need assistance," Grace Wolf, Vice President of Crisis Services for Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network, said in an interview with WWJ's Taylor Dietz.
There are several goals for the mobile crisis units, Wolf said. Getting people in crisis help where they are instead of having them drive to assistance, allowing people to reach out directly to mental health professionals directly instead of 911 and allowing the police to respond to other calls are all reasons the units were created.
The units are able to travel wherever they are needed in Wayne County, such as homes or workplaces.
Each unit is unmarked and looks like a regular van, helping erase some of the stigma in calling for mental health assistance. There will be a clinician, such as a social worker or counselor and a peer support specialist or peer recovery specialist, someone who has lived experience, in the vehicle, Wolf said.
Not everyone that calls the hotline will require someone to drive out, Wolf said. Some people may only need to speak to someone on the hotline. If a unit needs to be dispatched, the workers in the van will do a brief assessment, speak to the person and see what they're looking for, and help get them in contact with the appropriate resources.
The employees can get people in contact with long-term resources that can offer assistance instead of getting steered toward hospitals and jails, Wolf said.
Phase one has been approved by MDHHS and will involve working with adults seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wolf said they hope to build on and add work with children and have units available 24 hours a day.
The mobile crisis unit hotline is 1-800-241-4949.
