A profile of mental health crisis response in a rural setting

Systems of crisis intervention are frequently difficult to operationalize; they are often described as crisis components rather than systems, fail to differentiate levels of crisis acuity, provide very limited fundamental utilization data, and are almost exclusively implemented in urban areas. A system of rural crisis intervention differentiating levels of acuity and fundamental utilization information was profiled. Implications for clinicians and administrators are presented. This system of crisis intervention was highly effective in reducing inpatient utilization with the help of crisis residential beds and partial hospitalization. Mobile response was infrequently used in this setting. Age and gender were important variables in mental health emergency situations. Use of acute crisis level services was rarely more than once. More systematic descriptions of crisis systems of care were encouraged.