March 01, 2023
A comprehensive behavioral health crisis system is available to respond immediately to anyone experiencing a behavioral health crisis, including someone having suicidal thoughts, psychiatric crises, or substance use crises. Crisis services need to be available 24-hours-aday, seven-days-a-week, to anyone anywhere in the country. In 2020, SAMHSA published the National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care: Best Practice Toolkit that recommended every state have a comprehensive crisis continuum consisting of three core elements: Crisis Call Centers, including hotlines and warmlines ("Someone to Talk To"); Mobile Crisis Response ("Someone to Respond"); and Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Facilities ("A Place to Go").