Mobile Crisis Outreach Teams

The Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (MCOT) is now located at the Crisis Care Center at 1200 Clifton in Waco, Texas. MCOT provides a combination of crisis services including emergency care, urgent care, and crisis follow-up and relapse prevention to any child, adolescent, or adult in the community. MCOT can be dispatched 24 hours per day, seven days per week, within one hour to any location in our 6-county catchment area.

The MCOT will provide crisis services for up to 30 days to help individuals who would not otherwise be eligible for MHMR services.

The Impact of Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (MCOT) on our Community

by Kristy Lohr, Program Director

Since he was 18, J. has been on the streets. He has had no support, no steady food, no place to live, and nothing to call his own. He has been in and out of jail for minor misdemeanors such as trespassing and has been hospitalized 5 times for mental illness. He is now 24 years old. He just needs someone to invest in him.

T. is living in filth. Trash covers the floor of her house that once appeared nice. Her paranoia terrifies her and keeps her locked in a world of fear. She never dares to venture out of her home. She is a prisoner of her mental illness. She needs someone to penetrate her reality.

B. is a precious middle-aged woman. She lives in a home with no electricity in the middle of winter. There are 3 dead dogs in her back yard because she lacked the cognition to know to feed them. Her illness keeps her from seeing her own needs, let alone those of the dogs'. She needs someone to care enough to help her see.

M. just got out of Austin State Hospital. For the first time in his life he believes that he does in fact have a mental illness. He wants help, but does not know where to start. Is it too late? He has criminal charges pending for things he did before he went to the hospital. He's been evicted. His world is spinning. Can someone make it stop? Is there some one to really help him?

MCOT (Mobile Crisis Outreach Team) is a new state mandated program designed to go out into the community to aid individuals in mental health crisis. We meet people where they are--in their homes, on the streets, in the hospital, or in the shelters. We build a relationship with them in order to bridge the gap into treatment. We strive to meet the physical needs of people so that they are then more inclined to trust us with their deeper needs.

MCOT serves a number of functions. First, it serves as a step-down program from psychiatric hospitalization. We aid in reintegrating and working with individuals who no longer meet the criteria for hospitalization but still need intensive support. Second, we link individuals who do not qualify for MHMR services but are in situational crisis with other community providers. Third, we are available to the community for crisis assessments when individuals will not leave their homes to come to MHMR. Fourth, we are able to aid in admitting qualified individuals into MHMR services or into the hospital.

Our overarching goal is to engage clients in treatment with MHMR or other community providers in order to reduce hospitalizations and inappropriate jail bookings. Locally, MCOT has been operating since mid-December 2007. MCOT is currently staffed by two Licensed Professional Counselors, an RN, and three caseworkers. We provide services such as crisis assessments in the community, crisis housing support, daily medication monitoring, needs assessment, and relapse prevention. MCOT has received over 65 referrals covering all 6 counties. The referrals have come from entities such as law enforcement, adult protective services, The City of Waco, DePaul, Austin State Hospital, medical facilities, and from family members. Currently we have about 15 active cases and are receiving new cases almost daily. MCOT also has an after hours and weekend capability. We are able to utilize weekend ACT Team staff to aid in following up with MCOT clients on weekends and holidays. This allows in some cases for daily medication or quicker discharge from a psychiatric facility. MCOT has trained on-call workers that are able to respond to a crisis after hours by going to a secure location or with law enforcement to a client's home for assessment.

Do you remember the clients mentioned above?

J. is now in his very own apartment. He has social security income, food stamps, a bike, and more self-esteem than ever before. He is no longer forgotten. T. is now in a group home where she is able to receive medication monitoring, a safe environment, and security. She is no longer afraid. B. has electricity, support from a caseworker, and medical care that she previously lacked. She is no longer alone. M. has an apartment, daily medication monitoring, caseworkers advocating for him, and the support to build a new relationship with his children. M.?s world now makes sense.

As the saying goes, it only takes one to change one. One program is reaching out to the community to change lives one at a time. We are forging new ground in collaborating with other social service entities. We are loving people exactly where they are, but too much to leave them there.