During the HOPE Squad of Carbon, Emery and Grand Counties’ quarterly meeting, two separate programs at Four Corners Behavioral Health were highlighted.
The first was Stabilization and Mobile Response (SMR), which is a new program that is being launched statewide. Micah Woodard spoke on this, stating that there are areas of the program that have been implemented within the last year or two.
The eastern region is currently in the process of launching the SMR program while at an in-between stage of testing and making progress. Soon, a full-on launch is planned to take place.
The idea with SMR is that the focus turns to families that have children, teens and young adults aged 20 or younger that are facing some sort of problem, such as mental emotional behavior at home, in school, in the community, etc. Woodard stated that they aim to help the families and children in these issues earlier and meet their needs before it becomes a bigger crisis.
This is completed by providing two real services: the stabilization and mobile response. In the moment, they can call and the team will visit and help develop plans, though the emphasis will be on the stabilization piece, according to Woodard.
This is completed in the form of short-term intensive services with the child and their family in the home. For the first month, a representative of SMR will meet with the family a few times per week, teaching skills in their own space.
The second month would see less visits, around once or twice per week, hosted in their space and environment within the moment. After the first couple of months, SMR will continue to follow up with the family by phone and as needed in person, continuing to provide resources. Woodard explained that the idea is early intervention.
Woodard stated that this is a huge effort that the state is 100% behind and just recently, the first in-home meeting was hosted, which he said went well.
“We hope to be able to connect with a lot of these families,” Woodard stated.
He then said those that are interested in the SMR program can reach out to him directly for the time being, though the hope in the next couple of weeks is that they will be able to begin utilizing the program and making it available to everyone.
The next Four Corners program that was highlighted was the Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (MCOT). Nathan Sauter stated that they work closely with the state and their crisis line. He then explained that the typical process begins with the team responding within office hours as soon as they are available.
After hours, all are encouraged to use the 800 crisis line. The call will then be triaged and the local responders will be contacted if necessary. A crisis can be anything to anyone, explained Sauter, including stress, anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide.
Sauter informed all at the meeting that one of the hallmarks of the MCOT program is that there are at least two team members that respond to each of those calls: a case manager and a licensed clinician.
This allows them to have one team member remain with the client and the other to start facilitating connections to other resources that they may need. There are then follow-up services and resources to ensure that the individual is receiving the help that they need.
“We are not just responding to the crisis, but helping them get help for their ongoing issue,” shared Sauter.
He concluded by stating that MCOT has an expanded team to ensure that they are taking care of the client.