Far too many people experiencing mental health or substance use emergencies end up in emergency departments or local jails. What happens next depends on where they are, who is called, and who responds—and the consequences of this patchwork approach can be deadly.
Access to quality behavioral health care has been lacking in the U.S. for decades, a void exacerbated by the pandemic. About 4 in 10 adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression during the pandemic—that’s four times pre-COVID-19 levels—and both drug overdose and suicide death rates increased.
Many people experiencing these crises do not receive appropriate care, in part because current crisis systems too often lack coordination among each other and from other care systems.
To address this problem, since 2020 Pew has conducted research and worked with local, state, and federal stakeholders and policymakers to examine behavioral health and crisis care practices across the country. We are now moving into a new phase of this work: supporting states in creating robust systems of crisis care that meet people where they are and ensure that anyone with a behavioral health need can access proven, effective care.
Spanning both the public safety and health care systems, this effort aims to:
- Reduce the likelihood that an emergency hotline call involving a person experiencing a mental health and/or substance use crisis results in someone being physically harmed, arrested, or brought to an emergency department.
- Increase the chances that such a call leads to the person being connected to effective community-based behavioral health services.
- Make more efficient use of policing resources and improve police response times.
In an emergency, people should be able to get the help they need regardless of their circumstances.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or visit 988lifeline.org and click on the chat button.
OUR WORK
