Opportunities and Challenges to Build Behavioral Health Crisis Capacity in Rural America

This column shares lessons learned from a 1-year pilot implementation of a crisis response program deploying crisis professionals to rural parts of Albany County, New York. The data (325 crisis interventions for 191 unique individuals, 57% of cases resolved on the scene) suggest that the program helps fill the crisis services gap in these communities. Police were present on 80% of cases. Educating police to build confidence in the program and providing clearer guidelines on the triage process for dispatchers may be important strategies to continue shifting crisis response duties from traditional first responders to crisis professionals.