How Coachella Valley schools are utilizing Mobile Crisis Response Teams for mental health emergencies
As Mental Health Awareness month comes to a close, we're taking a closer look at mental health emergency care in Riverside County.
We spoke to the Riverside University Health System, and a school therapist at Desert Hot Springs High School about how they utilize Mobile Crisis Response Teams.
Carmelita Coppins, LCSW and Mental Health Therapist at Desert Hot Springs High School described one of those emergencies.
"If I let you walk out that door, will you attempt to kill yourself? And if there's not a 'Oh, no, Miss, I'm just stressed,' type of response, which a lot of times there's not, it's hesitation. It's, 'I don't know.' It's, 'Yeah, I think I'm gonna do it,'" says Coppins.
When a school counselor like Coppins is faced with a mental health emergency they can request help from Riverside County's Mobile Crisis Response Team, also known as an MCRT.
"Our mobile crisis response teams that are not paired with law enforcement, they arrive in a county vehicle," says Kristin Miller, Behavioral Health Services Administrator, with the Riverside University Health System.
The team is made up of a Clinical Therapist or a Behavioral Health Specialist and a Mental
Health Peer Support Specialist.
One of the main goals of MCRTs is to minimize law enforcement involvement and decrease hospitalizations.
"Plus we have specialty training in crisis intervention and behavioral health and substance use," says Miller.
Our valley schools are also known to utilize this resource.
"It's not as threatening as a stranger or strangers, if there's multiples coming in, and asking you all these very personal questions about your mental health and well being at your most vulnerable time," says Coppins.
According to the most recent Crisis Support System of Care Report, children under the age of 15 make up the largest portion of MCRT clients, at 39 percent.
"Whether it be within the environment, within their families, as a society with COVID, there's just all these elements that are impacting them. And (their) little brains are still developing, they haven't learned the skills to deal with it. And so they these intrusive type thoughts coming in," says Coppins.
In Coachella Valley, Desert Sands Unified called 81 times last year, and Palm Springs Unified had 35 calls.
Miller says Riverside University Health System responds to 100 percent of the calls they receive from district schools within the Coachella Valley.
"Yes, every call that we've been asked to go on, we will send a team to," says Miller.
Coppins says the teams have helped her students, "Having a positive experience in a really bad time, helps you be a little more open to the resources that can help you."
