Evaluating the crisis service of a community mental health center

This paper describes the use of an empirically based evaluation system for the Crisis Service of a comprehensive community mental health center. Through cooperative agreements with community agencies, jailings of behaviorally disturbed individuals have decreased in number and duration. Evaluations have also measured response time and success of recommendations made by workers. The authors describe how the Crisis Service's evaluation techniques reflect the Center's commitment to accountability, a behavioral approach, and community orientation. Data concerning evaluation of the service are presented.