COMMUNITY AND CRISIS SERVICES
The Community and Crisis Services Division includes the following services:
-Emergency Services
-Same Day Access
-Crisis Intervention Team
-CIT Crisis Assessment Center
-Mental Health Outpatient
-Forensic Services
Please see more information for each of our services below.
Emergency Services
District 19 Emergency and Evaluation Services provides crisis intervention services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Crisis services include assessment for psychiatric hospitalization for individuals who present a need in the D19 catchment area.
Services provided:
- 24-hour crisis intervention, assessment and screening for emergency hospitalization, both voluntary and involuntary.
- Assessment and referral to District 19 support programs.
- Consultation and education to the general community and to groups, organizations, agencies, etc.
Click Here for Crisis Intervention Service Description & Eligibility Requirements
Same-Day Access
District 19 now offers same-day access (SDA) to services. The purpose of SDA is to provide a clinical assessment to any individual on the day they come to the CSB during open access hours. This process greatly improves individuals' satisfaction and engagement in services. For more information, please visit our Same Day Access page.
CIT Crisis Assessment Center
The CIT Crisis Assessment Center (CAC) was created to
provide an assessment site for law enforcement to use as an alternative to
incarceration and a service access point. The CAC provides on-site emergency
services/clinical personnel who can determine clinical status and assess
treatment needs for the individual, as well as security to support the site in
accepting the transfer of the Emergency Custody Order (ECO), providing for the
safety of all persons involved. The CAC possesses ready access to dispositional
options including TDO beds, crisis stabilization, detox, and other community
based services.
The Crisis Assessment Center (CAC) will provide immediate crisis intervention for individuals who present with a mental health, substance abuse, or situational crisis. The goal of the CAC is to reduce the amount of unnecessary hospitalizations and incarcerations in the community.
- Assessment and triage
- Pre-admissions evaluation
- Brief crisis counseling
- Crisis de-escalation
- Psycho-education and skill building
- Linkage and referral to additional community resources
For more information on our Crisis Assessment Center, please call (804) 862-6095.
These services are available to all individuals hospitalized
for care:
- Representation at commitment/re-commitment hearings.
- Pre-discharge / Aftercare planning in collaboration with inpatient psychiatric hospital treatment teams for individuals with mental illness, substance abuse disorders, and / or intellectual/developmental disabilities.
- Assessment and screening for emergency hospitalization (voluntary and involuntary) as well as for admission into the Acute Care Project.
- Assessment and referral to D19 programs.
Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) are programs that bring together local stakeholders, including law enforcement officers, emergency dispatchers, mental health treatment providers, consumers of mental health services and others (such as hospitals, emergency medical care facilities, non-law enforcement first responders, and family advocates), in order to improve multi-systems’ response to persons experiencing behavioral health crises who come into contact with law enforcement first responders. Such individuals may come to the attention of law enforcement and other first responders or corrections and jail personnel due to exhibiting symptoms or behaviors that are misinterpreted as criminal in nature, inappropriate, dangerous or violent. Additionally, law enforcement officers routinely interact with individuals with behavioral health disorders as a result of the statutory structure of Virginia’s civil commitment process. In many of these situations, it is necessary to help such persons access mental health treatment, or place such persons in custody and seek either mental health treatment referral or incarceration for criminal acts.
CIT programs enhance community collaboration, develop effective infrastructure and provide outstanding training to improve criminal justice and mental health system response to individuals with mental health issues. The CIT model was originally developed by the Memphis, Tennessee Police Department, and has subsequently spread throughout the country. The 40-hour training enabled officers to more effectively communicate with and understand the particular needs of individuals with mental illness. In so doing, officers were able to reduce the potential for misunderstanding and enhance their ability to de-escalate situations involving persons with mental illness. Additionally, with education about treatment options and development of a therapeutic assessment site to improve access to services, officers were better enabled to connect individuals with needed treatment, in lieu of incarceration, consistent with the needs of public safety and addressing the underlying issue of mental illness.