MONTGOMERY COUNTY — A new provider is bringing back mobile crisis response services to Montgomery County.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, the Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) recently approved a new partnership with DeCoach Recovery Centre to provide area crisis teams.
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Instead of sending police to handle crises, mental health experts believe a mobile crisis team could be more effective.
As previously reported on News Center 7, a 75-year-old man was arrested after an hours-long SWAT standoff in Riverside on Monday.
Neighbors said the man was experiencing a mental health crisis.
“That guy had a crisis on Sunday. It started early in the afternoon and he just got worse. He was in the front yard and he needed some help,” John Panella said.
Panella and other neighbors in the community stood by and watched as SWAT responded to the scene early Monday morning.
ADAMHS Executive Director Helen Jones-Kelly said the board believes a mobile mental health team would have helped police during this incident.
“If a crisis is going on in one house in the community, everybody’s impacted, you know. Everybody’s at their door, or they’re out in the street. It kind of puts that person, unfortunately, under an even deeper kind of spotlight when they’re not able to manage themselves well,” Jones-Kelly said.
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ADAMHS ended its last partnership with RI International because it was too expensive to maintain.
“That was the most expensive piece of the services. So right now, we’re just going to get back to having a mobile crisis team that can go out,” Jones-Kelley said.
Community members like Panella said they’re glad these services are returning to the county.
“I think that’s a good thing to have in this area because we had a lot of issues like that right now with mental health and everything,” Panella said.
The service will start up in April with plans on expanding to a 24-hour response.
The suicide and crisis lifeline can be called or texted anytime at 988.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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