Transforming Care

It’s their worst day. And, yet, tens of thousands of people end up in the Emergency Department (ED) or jail each year because they don’t have access to the level of mental health crisis services they need. The result is the dangerous practice of warehousing patients in the ED and the criminalization of people in distress. The outcomes can be costly: people in crisis face institutional setting trauma or worse. Not matching people to their care needs is also detrimental to the healthcare system at a cost of roughly $2,264 per psychiatric patient. The Crisis Now partners believe now is the time to change crisis care across the United States and worldwide.

The Crisis Now partners have created CrisisNow.com to provide all communities a roadmap to safe, effective crisis care that diverts people in distress from the emergency department and jail by developing a continuum of crisis care services that match people’s clinical needs. This reduces and prevents suicides while providing more immediate and targeted help for a person in distress. Also, it cuts the costs of care by reducing the need for psychiatric hospital bed usage, emergency department visits, and law enforcement overuse.

Crisis Now is led by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) and developed with the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the National Council for Behavioral Health, and RI International. Contact us at info@crisisnow.com