Mobile Crisis Services
Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime.
The Mobile Crisis Team (MCT) is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. To request an MCT response, call the Central Coast Hotline at 1-800-783-0607.Services are available for anyone within San Luis Obispo County who is experiencing a mental health and/or substance use crisis and is at immediate risk of danger and subsequent harm. Such services include but are not limited to:
- De-escalation of a person’s level of distress
- Prevention of a behavioral health crisis
- Reduction of acute symptoms of a mental health condition
- Assessment for appropriate level of care
- Referrals, resources, and peer support advocacy
- Post-crisis follow-up support
The Mobile Crisis Team (MCT) provides crisis services to individuals in the community who are experiencing acute distress and require a rapid response and urgent care. The goal is to assist the individual in stabilizing and remaining in their own environment, prevent the need for higher levels of care, and avoid unnecessary emergency department care and law enforcement involvement.
If you are experiencing an urgent medical or safety issue, call 9-1-1 for assistance.
Who is eligible?
Mobile crisis services are available to anyone in need of crisis stabilization services who is willing and able to safely engage in such services. All persons physically located within San Luis Obispo County qualify for mobile crisis services, no matter their status or circumstances.
When and where is this service offered?
This service is available 24/7/365.
FAQS
The clock starts when a crisis line operator has determined a member requires a mobile crisis response. For example, a person may call 988 and then be transferred to a county’s crisis line (Central Coast Holitine) for further assessment. The crisis line operator may talk with the member and use a standardized tool and set of procedures to determine when a mobile crisis team should be dispatched. After the operator determines on-site help is required and dispatches the mobile crisis team, the mobile crisis team should arrive on-site within no more than 60 minutes for urban areas and 120 minutes for rural areas.
*Consistent with Alternative Access Standards for Medi-Cal Managed Care Health Plans, “rural” is defined to include all areas with less than 50 people per square mile.
A behavioral health crisis is a situation in which a person’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviors may lead them to hurt themselves or others or put them at risk of being unable to care for themselves or function in a healthy manner. A person in crisis may experience feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, or a sense of losing control. These feelings may be initiated or worsened by substance use.
The following list includes some common signs that may be associated with a mental health or substance use-related crisis:
- Changes in mood or behaviors that cause concern
- Thoughts of self-harm or suicide
- Sudden changes to hygiene and self-care practices
- Unusual thoughts, sounds, or visions that cause fear or distress
- Sudden onset or increase of substance use
- Feeling helpless or hopeless
- Sense of loss or control over thoughts, feelings, emotions, or behaviors
Mobile crisis services are available to anyone in need of crisis stabilization services who is willing and able to safely engage in such services. All persons physically located within San Luis Obispo County qualify for mobile crisis services, no matter their status or circumstances.
Staff who work on the Mobile Crisis Team are caring behavioral health professionals such as licensed medical practitioners, mental health clinicians, rehabilitation specialists, and peer support specialists.
Each crisis response is tailored to the person and their current needs, but in general, the crisis team will provide de-escalation and brief crisis interventions to assist the person in stabilizing.
They will also assess the individual to determine the most appropriate level of care and provide related referrals as indicated.
When appropriate, the person in crisis will be provided the opportunity to participate in a crisis safety plan in which they will strategize ways to remain safe as they continue to stabilize in their own environment. They will also be provided resources to follow up with in order to continue their stabilization.
Depending on the needs of the individual, the crisis team will refer them to behavioral health services and/or primary care services to most closely align with their ongoing treatment needs.
If you request the mobile crisis team, they will arrange to meet with you at a safe location within San Luis Obispo County.
Upon arrival, the crisis team will meet with you to learn of your situation and help navigate options to help you remain safe. Although every situation is unique, in general the crisis team will discuss your needs, introduce interventions and strategies to decrease the distress, provide resources and referrals, and connect you with ongoing stabilization.
If needed, they will help you access higher-level care treatment, including acute hospitalization.
No, mobile crisis services are provided on an as-needed basis. To access the mobile crisis team, call the Central Coast Hotline at 1-800-783-0607 and request mobile crisis services.
Mobile crisis services are available county-wide, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Mobile crisis services are provided throughout San Luis Obispo County, wherever the need arises (home, school, work, etc.). We will come to you or meet you at an agreed upon safe location.
The initial mobile crisis response must be provided where the member is experiencing a crisis, or at an alternate location of the member’s choosing.
Mobile crisis services may not be provided in the following settings, due to restrictions in federal law and/or because these facilities and settings are already responsible for providing crisis services:
- Inpatient Hospital
- Inpatient Psychiatric Hospital
- Emergency Department
- Residential SUD treatment and withdrawal management facility
- Mental Health Rehabilitation Center
- Psychiatric Health Facility
- Special Treatment Program
- Skilled Nursing Facilit
- Intermediate Care Facility
- Settings subject to the inmate exclusion such as jails, prisons, and juvenile detention facilities
- Other crisis stabilization and receiving facilities (e.g., sobering centers, crisis respite, crisis stabilization units, psychiatric health facilities, psychiatric inpatient hospitals, crisis residential treatment programs, etc.).
No one is denied mobile crisis services due to inability to pay.
Absolutely. If there is anyone supporting you during this time, it is helpful to have them involved in the mobile crisis response. If appropriate, they may also be engaged in discussing next steps and plans for safety.
Yes. You do not need to be a resident of San Luis Obispo County to receive mobile crisis services. The only requirement is that you are currently physically located in San Luis Obispo County.
Mobile crisis services are accessible to all people in crisis, whether housed or unsheltered, and includes connections to ongoing behavioral health care and housing services when appropriate.
Yes, language interpreter services are available.
