24 Miss. Code. R. 2-19.5 - Mobile Crisis Response Services Coordination

A. Mobile Crisis Response Services must provide crisis assessment and crisis support when requested by entities providing services to the following:

1. People held in a Designated Mental Health Holding Facility who are waiting for bed availability after an inpatient commitment.

2. People held in a local jail with a mental health emergency.

3. People presenting in local emergency rooms with a mental health emergency.

4. Families in need of a pre-affidavit screening.

B. Mobile Crisis Response Services must be offered to all licensed hospitals with emergency departments in the catchment or service area, including:

1. Training of emergency room personnel on resources offered by the MCERT and CMHCs in handling mental health emergencies.

2. Consultation in the care of people who are admitted to the hospital for medical treatment of suicide attempts or other mental health emergencies.

C. Mobile Crisis Response Services must provide assessment and arrange transportation 24 hours a day, seven (7) days a week to DMH Certified Crisis Residential Services designated for the agency provider's catchment or service area for people in need of Crisis Residential Services.

D. Mobile Crisis Response Services must attempt to develop a close working relationship with law enforcement (e.g., city police, county sheriff, campus police, county jails, youth detention centers, etc.) in the agency provider's catchment or service area. The Crisis Coordinator must maintain documentation of contacts with these agencies.

1. The LMHA will offer and provide mental health crisis response/intervention resources and offer technical assistance to every law enforcement agency in their catchment area. The Crisis Coordinator must maintain documentation of the request, response, and training provided. The training may be provided by any qualified CMHC/LMHA employee.

E. Mobile Crisis Response Services must attempt to develop a close working relationship with all Chancery Courts and Clerks in the agency provider's catchment or service area. The Crisis Coordinator must maintain documentation of contacts with these agencies.

F. MCERTs will receive requests from various sources including the crisis lines, 988, law enforcement, DMH, or other defined referral sources (e.g., schools, chancery clerks). MCERTs are required to maintain a telephone number directly connecting referral sources to the MCERT. This telephone number must be proactively shared with DMH, 988, law enforcement, and other defined referral sources, including, but not limited to, the examples outlined above.

G. Calls to the Mobile Crisis Line must be immediately answered by a live MCERT member and subsequently triaged for dispatch. An automated answering service is not permitted to function as a MCERT dispatch line. When the MCERT receives a call, then the team must immediately assess and dispatch the MCERT, when necessary, in the manner as outlined in the Mobile Crisis Care Coordination Protocols, as developed by DMH. Additional dispatch protocols must be approved by DMH to utilize.

H. Once the MCERT is dispatched, then the team must respond and arrive on-site within the timeliness and location policies and procedures, developed in accordance with DMH crisis response rules and requirements and policies and procedures. The MCERT will meet the person in crisis in the location where the crisis occurs unless the person served requests to be met in an alternative community-based location when feasible. It is reasonable to respond with law enforcement if there is a safety concern.

I. Care Coordination and Follow-up: Following a crisis response encounter, the MCERT must ensure that the person has a follow-up appointment with their preferred provider and provide for regular contact with the person until the person attends their initial appointment. Additionally, the Team must provide post-crisis follow-up within 72 hours of the initial crisis episode. This follow-up may occur via face-to-face, telehealth, and/or via telephone contact and must include, but is not limited to:

1. Reassessing risk;

2. Reviewing/updating immediate and short-term safety plans;

3. Collaboration with immediate/available supports;

4. Providing ongoing support and outreach; and

5. Collaboration on transportation to the follow-up appointment.

J. In accordance with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Model Standards for Peer Support Certification, those taking on supervision tasks should have a deep understanding of the nature of peer practice, knowledge of the peer specialists' role and of the principles and philosophy of recovery (for substance use/mental health peer workers) or resiliency (for family peer workers), and familiarity with the code of ethics for peer specialists. It is encouraged that prospective certified peer supervisors have direct experience as a peer specialist and relevant lived experience.

Notes

24 Miss. Code. R. 2-19.5

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-4-7

Amended 7/1/2016 Amended 9/1/2020 Amended 11/1/2024