|
Mobile Crisis Team - Lending a Helping Hand
By Jenna Bensoussan
Sometimes you just need help—Now. Oakwood Center of the Palm Beaches' Mobile Crisis Team offers those in need that immediate help through their 24-hour emergency service.
The team's main goal is the prevention of unnecessary psychiatric hospitalizations, along with minimizing the personal, family and social disruptiveness caused by mental illness, emotional distress or substance use disorders.
"Oakwood Center is trying to reach all individuals who need our services," said Dr. Linda DePiano, CEO of Oakwood Center of the Palm Beaches. "In the coming years ahead we are hoping to double our numbers served. Being in the Western Communities will help us reach a great amount of people in need."
The Mobile Crisis Team served over 1200 adults and children last year. When they aren't on the move, assisting those with immediate needs, they are training crisis intervention specialists who take calls and respond within the community year-round.
Oakwood Center is also one of the two crisis teams in Palm Beach County to work directly with Palm Beach County law Enforcement Agencies for Crisis Intervention Training (CIT). They, along with other community agencies, have worked together to train over 400 officers in recognizing and understanding mental health behaviors, substance use indications and the needs of those afflicted.
Because of their successful cooperation with local officers, many times they are called to crime scenes to aide the police with crisis situations.
Not only does Oakwood's Mobile Crisis Team provide training for the local-area law enforcement agencies, it also steps in to do educational, preventative classes and presentations for the local schools.
Members of the crisis team provide emergency intervention to anyone experiencing acute mental, emotional or substance use distress. The counselors offer support to anyone involved in the crisis (including family, friends, classmates, teachers, etc.), help find suitable treatment options for those affected and provide follow-up services for as long as required by the patient(s).
The Mobile Crisis Team has a vast database system, allowing a tailored referral for each individual within any given crisis situation. Services are available for both adults and children, helping them restore and maintain productive lives in the community.
Oakwood's mission is a noble one. Taking on a community, one person at a time, to try and help clients build resiliency, facilitate recovery and achieve reintegration into society by designing and delivering behavioral health care services that meet everyone's needs is not an easy task to undertake. It is even more difficult when you don't have the budget or the resources to back it up to its full potential.
Because this is a free service to the community, funding is key for keeping this an on-going project. The work these counselors do—walking into unknown situations, fully prepared to stay as long as it takes to help the individual in need—redefines the traditional mobile treatment, historically involving a "lock-them-up-and-diagnose-them-later" methodology.
Oakwood Center of the Palm Beaches' Mobile Crisis Team is not a paddy wagon. There are no confining elements to this team as there are associated with other "mobile crisis units".
It is refreshing to know there are people out there that just care enough to help, without feeling the need to commit and admit.
For more information about their program, training or if you need a little help yourself, give them a call at (561) 383-8000. |
