The present study is a Delphi design, mixed methods exploration of the training and skills needed for mobile crisis team professionals. It is estimated that 51.5 million adults in the United States live with mental illness (NIMH, 2021). Suicide is the second leading cause of death for those 10-34 years of age (CDC, 2021). When people are in a mental health crisis in the community, they often rely on law enforcement (Lamb et al., 2002) and emergency medical services for aid (Prener & Lincoln, 2015). Although neither profession includes comprehensive mental health training, they are the most common first responders. These interactions do not always end well. The Washington Post (Tan, 2021) reported that between 2016-2021 roughly a quarter of fatal police shootings involved someone in a mental health crisis. Mobile Crisis Team programs have been offered as an alternative to traditional police response. Following community outcry, cities like Baltimore, D.C., and Oakland have worked to create or expand existing mobile crisis programs. During this expansion of mobile crisis services, it is crucial for programs, and the mental health field in general, to have a clear understanding of the types of skills and training needed for mobile crisis professionals. Although there is a large body of research on mobile crisis programs, there is a gap in the literature regarding skills and training. The current study was conducted to address the existing gap in the literature, provide a comprehensive list of skills, training modalities, and professions that compose mobile crisis teams, and inspire future research in mobile crisis training. The study was conducted in three phases. In Phase 1, I recruited a panel of knowledgeable professionals from mobile crisis programs, law enforcement, and emergency medical services to share their expertise on aspects of crisis response in the community. The qualitative data were coded to create a list of skills and training. In Phase 2, panelists rated the items. Descriptive statistics were calculated and included as feedback for Phase 3. In Phase 3, panelists re-rated the items, with feedback, to build consensus. Three lists were produced: (a) Professions Composing Mobile Crisis Teams, (b) Skills and Training, (c) Training Modalities. These lists are composed of 163 items ranked by importance. A high level of consensus regarding importance was achieved by the panel. Differences in item ratings between professions were also explored. The items generated and rated by the panel may prove valuable in the design, improvement, or evaluation of mobile crisis programs and training curricula, and aid in future research on mobile crisis skills, training, design, or effectiveness.

Thesis advisor: Thanh V. Tran / ABSTRACT This dissertation has the following specific aim: to measure outcomes of social work emergency certificates produced by a Mobile Crisis Team to determine the effectiveness of these certificates at linking clients to services. Linkage to services is a programmatic goal and is achieved by ensuring clients receive adequate crisis and follow up services as a result of Emergency Certificates. In doing so, risks of homicide, suicide and grave disability are mitigated. Under its administrative umbrella, Mobile Crisis Team operates a police-social work collaboration known as Crisis Intervention Team, and both are administered by the State of Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services in southeastern Connecticut. The data comes from 233 consecutive cases that involved Emergency Certificate's to transport clients to the local emergency department for psychiatric evaluation and treatment. Data was gathered post-hoc by reviewing copies of each specific certificate and cross-referencing those certificates with an agency risk management report and an electronic data base that stores demographic data on all clients. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariable analysis, such as cross tabulations and binary logistic regression, were used to analyze the data in this study. Additionally, the chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) was used to construct outcome trees to describe subgroups of interest. This research is a continuation of previously published research on the various permutations and outcomes of mobile crisis programs, and contributes two unique programmatic features: the use by social workers of a legally proscribed coercive tool to send people to the emergency department for assessment, and the effectiveness of police-social work collaborations compared to social work only referrals. Overall, linkage occurs in over 80% of cases, with significant predictors of linkage identified as substance abuse, Hispanic ethnicity, criminal justice involvement, suicide, affective disorders, and insurance status. Implications for program evaluation, future research and limitations of the study are also discussed / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Scarce community mental health resources have led to people in crisis (PIC) overusing the emergency department (ED) and encountering police more frequently. To divert PIC from the ED and criminal justice system, and support them in their community, police services have implemented crisis response teams (CRTs). CRTs refer to police, health and mental health crisis response. Evidence of CRTs’ effectiveness in achieving their desired outcomes is limited, mixed, and/or anecdotal. I completed three studies using various theoretical and methodological approaches, which included: (a) a critical interpretative synthesis (CIS) of the conditions under which CRTs are formed, their features, and their outcomes; (b) a policy analysis using a case study design to examine how and why a CRT model was adopted in Hamilton, Canada; and (c) a what’s the problem represented to be (WPR) critical policy analysis of why police are implicated in crisis response. The CIS presents a conceptual framework depicting how unresolved structural conditions produce system- and individual-level challenges. Second, the case study examines the mobile crisis rapid response team (MCRRT) development in Hamilton. The analysis shows that initiatives that incrementally expand on the boundaries of existing programs are likely to be adopted. Third, drawing on WPR, we excavate problem representations within policy and policy-related texts to understand why police-based CRTs are expanded in Ontario. When mental health is framed in terms of safety and implicated within discourses about risk and danger police intervention is legitimized. Collectively, these studies provide a theoretical framework connecting structural, system, and individual factors most relevant to CRTs; demonstrate that an incremental approach to CRT adoption did not disrupt existing system arrangements; and problematizations within government policies that legitimize police in mental health crisis response. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Since deinstitutionalization, during which mental health patients were discharged into the community, this population has had more frequent encounters with police, contributing to criminalization and tragedies. They have also increasingly sought mental health crisis support in emergency departments. Police, health, and mental health crisis response teams (CRTs) have been implemented as an alternative response to people with mental health issues who are in crisis. To date, CRTs have been widely implemented but with little, mixed, and/or anecdotal evidence demonstrating their effectiveness. This dissertation contextualizes information about CRTs by presenting (a) a conceptual framework on CRTs, outlining the structural, system, and individual conditions under which CRTs are formed, their features, and outcomes; (b) a case study that examined under what conditions a CRT was developed and implemented in Hamilton, Canada; and (c) a critical discourse analysis of CRTs.

IVANKO, Dana. Possibilities of social work in a situation of mass disasters in relation to the needs of victims. Prague: Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague, 2013. 87 pp. Diploma thesis. Diploma Thesis - Possibilities of social work in a situation of mass disasters in relation to the needs of victims - focuses on the area of psychosocial assistance and social work in mass disasters. It describes in deeper details the types of assistance in mass disasters, focusing on psychosocial assistance. The focus is on human, with its biological, psychological, spiritual and social needs. Then, social work in situations of mass disaster and competences of a social worker are introduced. A separate chapter discusses mobile crisis teams. To achieve the goals of this work, it presents an overview of standards of psychosocial assistance, including legislative basis of help in mass disasters in the Czech Republic. Research section provides an insight into the work of mobile crisis teams in the Czech Republic in the form of examples of good practice. The methodology will be elaborated based on the examples of work of mobile crisis teams, on what has proved successful in providing psychosocial assistance. Keywords Social work in mass disasters, psychosocial assistance, mass disaster, victims, needs of...