EGPD partners with Sacramento County, launches Mobile Crisis Support Team

December 11, 2018 |   

The Elk Grove Police Department announced this morning that it is partnering with Sacramento County Division of Behavioral Health Services to implement a mobile crisis support team (MCST).  The purpose of the MCST is to provide intervention for community members experiencing a mental health crisis and to avoid incarceration of individuals in those situations. 

“We are very pleased to be able to partner with Sacramento County in providing this vital and much needed service to our Elk Grove community,"Elk Grove Police Chief Bryan Noblett said in a prepared statement. "Our officers respond to a high number of calls for service involving people in crisis and the addition of this MCST will greatly assist in connecting those individuals in distress with the clinical assistance they need.”

MCST team members include a specially trained officer and licensed mental health professional who respond together to emergency calls associated with mental health crises with the goal of mitigating the crisis in the community. In addition, the MCST involves a County contracted Peer Navigator who then offers follow-up services. 

When calls for service come into the Elk Grove Police Department, MCST triages and responds to those calls with a mental health component, including calls that may result in trauma or acute distress. The licensed mental health professional provides assessment and consultation to law enforcement and emergency personnel to develop a plan for mediating a mental health crisis to decrease unnecessary incarceration or hospitalization.

“The Mobile Crisis Support Team provides immediate engagement with individuals experiencing a mental health crisis for the purpose of providing care and maintaining community safety,” Uma Zykofsky, LCSW, Sacramento County Behavioral Health Director said. “Although there is not a ‘one-size-fits-all model’ for those who have mental illness, it is important to recognize that with services or resources these individuals live productive and fulfilling lives in the community and manage mental health conditions the same way individuals of all ages manage and live with other chronic illnesses.” 

The goals of MCST are to:

• Provide safe, compassionate and effective responses to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis
• Mediate the current crisis to increase public safety
• Decrease unnecessary hospitalizations and unnecessary incarcerations for those experiencing a mental health crisis
• Increase member participation with mental health providers by problem solving barriers and increasing knowledge of local resources

MCST is a program funded by the (DBHS) through the voter approved Proposition 63, Mental Health Services Act (MSHA), which involves a collaboration between DBHS and the Elk Grove Police Department.