‘More help is better than nothing’ for those in mental health crisis – Alexandria Echo Press

ALEXANDRIA

— A mental health crisis – your own or someone else’s – is bad enough without not knowing what to do or who to call.

And unlike victims of medical emergencies, people dealing with mental health crises worry about being judged. Which is why the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Minnesota (

NAMI Minnesota

) wants folks to know that each Minnesota county has Mobile Crisis Response Teams.

As NAMI Minnesota travels around the state talking with communities, they realized how few people realized that Mobile Crisis Response Teams exist, and,

according to a recent news release

, that they “bring help directly to people in need — at home, work, school, or anywhere in the community. These teams, led by licensed mental health professionals, de-escalate crises, create safety plans, and connect people to ongoing care.”

“We’ve fought hard to build this system,” said Marcus Schmit, Executive Director of NAMI Minnesota, in that news release. “When someone experiences a mental health crisis, getting the right help at the right time can make all the difference. Minnesota’s Mobile Crisis Response Teams provide in-person support with no out-of-pocket costs, offering professional care when it’s needed most. If you or someone you love is in crisis, call your local Mobile Crisis Team instead of 911 whenever possible. These teams are trained to respond with care.”

In our area,

Region 4 South

serves five counties with mental health services: Douglas, Pope, Grant, Stevens and Traverse. Haley Fike is the program manager of the

Mental Health Crisis Response Team

, and she says the team goes to emergency rooms, community jails, and can be called out by police to respond alongside them. “We work with care teams through the hospital,” she says, “to make sure that a person is safe and has the appropriate resources when they’re being released from the hospital. We will go into jails as well, before they’re released, to see if there’s anything that we can get them set up with so that they don’t leave with no resources and no idea how to get them.”

But the Mobile Response Crisis Teams can also meet people wherever they might need help. “We see people wherever they need to be seen,” says Fike. “We can go to houses, we can meet somebody at the park, wherever they feel comfortable. We do an assessment to get a good understanding of how are they doing? What’s been going on in their life? [What] things that could impact their mental health currently, and we connect them with resources in the community. Get them set up for appointments, if needed. We can do crisis stabilization follow up, which is doing ongoing check-ins for about two weeks just to make sure that they get the best care we can provide.”

And sensitive, informed help in a mental health crisis can make all the difference when emotions may already be running high. “We’re always just there to help,” says Fike. “We try to make sure that everybody’s comfortable. Like, ‘Who do you want here? Is there somebody that we can call to be your support person during this time?’

“‘We’re not judgmental’ is a really big part of the team in general,” Fike continues. “Those are skills required to do this job, because we don’t come into somebody’s home to judge them. We are just trying to get them the help that they need. We can be a part of making that first introduction. That’s sometimes hard for people to admit — ‘I am having a really bad time, but I don’t want my primary doctor to know because I’ve known them for 10 years and I’ve never had this issue before.’ We want to be the person that’s there to be helpful. We’re just there to help in the best way that we can for friends and family.”

It can be particularly frightening if you or someone else seems to be thinking about suicide, but Fike says that’s not the only situation that calls for the Mobile Crisis Response Team.

“A lot of people deal with anxiety in their daily lives,” she says. “How bad [can] your anxiety get before you just break down or you don’t know what else to do? Then you’re in crisis. Same with depression.” Fike says sometimes a crisis occurs because a medication isn’t working or someone needs more or different help. “A lot of times we can be that stepping stone to start therapy. Let’s talk to the primary doctor and give that person assistance in getting to the next step when they feel stuck.”

The Mental Health Crisis Response Teams are not without limitations, however. “If [the person] does not want to see us or they’re not at that point, we will say that we can’t come out,” says Fike. “However, we give them our information. We always recommend the 988 or the Minnesota Warmline numbers, so that they do have somebody to talk to. ‘At least I know if I’m feeling this way, I can call or text these numbers.’ So we always make sure that we leave as many resources with them as possible, even if we aren’t able to physically interact with them.

“Police officers are another group that will call us. We do have to be called out with that person’s permission. It is voluntary to speak with us. We can come out and talk to kids with their parents’ permission but if there’s an adult saying they don’t want to talk to us, then they’re not going to talk to us.”

Nor does the Mental Health Crisis Response Team see people that are actively under the influence but Fike says it can be very difficult, sometimes, to determine if someone is having a mental health crisis or if it’s a substance issue.

“Usually we go off of when was the last time that we know they’ve used, or when was the last time they’re saying they used. For the ERs, before we respond, we have them do a tox screen, just to make sure that they are not under the influence. Meth is a really good example, where it’s really hard to distinguish between a mental health thing that they’re dealing with, ongoing; or is this just a reaction from the drug? So usually the providers have a pretty good idea of what’s going on there, and we rely heavily on that assessment. If there is suspected drug use, it may be beneficial for them to first go to the ER, get checked out there, before we start worrying about the mental health part of it.”

That being said, Fike says, “I think that we would rather have somebody call if they’re not sure if they meet criteria, than not call and meet criteria. We don’t mind just getting that call ‘Hey, my friend is in this situation and I don’t know what to do. We can still give advice on what to do, who to call. Here’s some local resources, those kinds of things. It might not be as specialized as the kind of care that we would give if we were able to do our assessment, but it is a level of care that we are OK with giving. Because more help is better than nothing.”

And Fike wants people to know about the new

crisis stabilization unit

in Hoffman, in Grant County, which she says is a big deal for an area with no mental health crisis beds.

“It’s the crisis bed. Through

Productive Alternatives

. It’s an in-between space, if somebody is having a mental health crisis or they need a little bit more care, however they don’t meet the criteria for hospitalization. It’s a 7 to 10 day stay, there. It’s not locked. They go through all of the things: make sure that medications are good and they allow you to see your doctor. They work with therapists, as well as helping people understand different coping techniques. It’s very laid back. It’s very ‘at their own pace.’ But it is newer, as of this year. So not a ton of people know about it, but it’s awesome. And that is pretty big because we don’t actually have any other mental health beds in our area.”