Mobile Crisis Intervention Services

CHDI has helped Connecticut establish a nationally recognized Mobile Response and Stabilization Services (MRSS) program with strong continuous quality improvement through our work as Connecticut's Mobile Crisis Performance Improvement Center. We are now sharing these best practices with states and communities across the country through a MRSS Quality Learning Collaborative to help them develop their own high-quality mobile response systems.

MOBILE CRISIS PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT CENTER (PIC)

Connecticut's Mobile Crisis Intervention Services, (formerly known as EMPS), provides 24/7 mobile children's mental health crisis services free of charge to all children in Connecticut through a network of fourteen provider sites across the state. Trained mental health clinicians are deployed to homes, schools and community locations to provide in-person crisis stabilization services and linkage to additional services for children in Connecticut.

CHDI serves as the Performance Improvement Center for the State’s Mobile Crisis Intervention Services through a contract with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF).

The Mobile Crisis Intervention Services Performance Improvement Center (PIC) carries out a number of functions for mobile crisis providers, DCF and others to improve mobile crisis service quality and outcomes, including:

• Analyze and report on number of families served
• Examine the frequency of face-to-face contacts with children and families (mobility rates), and how quickly providers respond to crises
• Examine changes in behavior problems and functioning for youth following Mobile Crisis services
• Deliver a standardized training curriculum to the statewide network of Mobile Crisis clinicians
• Work with providers and other stakeholders to facilitate practice development activities that improve and standardize Mobile Crisis services

We use the data and results to work directly with providers to examine their services, improve them where necessary, and promote the best possible outcomes for children and their families.

View our monthly, quarterly and annual Mobile Crisis Reports.

We have seen dramatic improvements in service access, quality and outcomes since we started working with mobile crisis providers in 2009.

• More children and families access mobile crisis services.
  The total number of children and families served more than doubled between 2009 and 2019. Though volume has fluctuated during the pandemic, Mobile Crisis continues to serve a high number of children.
• Mobile Crisis Intervention Services are highly responsive.
  Rates of face-to-face contact with families that request services is at 90% or higher at nearly all mobile crisis sites.
• Children improve their behaviors and functioning.
  Parents and clinicians see improvements in problem behaviors and functioning by the end of mobile crisis intervention.
• Mobile Crisis Intervention Services clinicians are well-trained.
  Hundreds of clinicians have been trained in the core competencies related to providing mobile crisis services in the community.

MOBILE RESPONSE STABILIZATION SERVICES (MRSS) QUALITY LEARNING COLLABORATIVE (QLC)

In partnership with the Innovations Institute at the UConn School of Social Work, CHDI is working with states and counties across the country to develop high-quality MRSS systems in their own communities through the MRSS Quality Learning Collaborative (QLC). The QLC has worked to develop National MRSS Best Practices that are used to ground the work.

This QLC provides the opportunity for states to receive:

• Individualized coaching from a team of subject matter experts on a variety of topics, including:
  • System design and implementation
  • Stakeholder partnerships
  • Youth and family engagement
  • Workforce development
  • Practice standards
  • Data and continuous quality improvement
  • Funding and sustainability
  • Other state-specific needs

• Peer interaction with other states implementing MRSS
• Access to examples from the field, webinars, and other resources

CHDI also developed a resource with detailed guidance for developing an effective CQI process, “Mobile Response for Children, Youth, and Families: Best Practice Data Elements and Quality Improvement Approaches.”  The guide provides an overview of best practices for the collection and use of data for CQI in the context of family/youth- and system-level goals for MRSS and recommended data elements and activities for CQI at both the program and system level.

To learn more about the Mobile Crisis Intervention Services Performance Improvement Center or the MRSS QLC, contact Kellie Randall.

Kellie Randall - Director of Quality Improvement krandall@chdi.org 860-679-8098

Mobile Crisis Reports