Efforts by the Arlington County government and its partners in developing a more seamless, integrated approach to mental-health-crisis responses were on display June 24 at Walter Reed Community Center.
“Teamwork is what it is all about,” said Tiffany Jones, the county government’s Marcus Alert coordinator (more on that later) in the Department of Human Services.
Attendees at the outdoor event dodged a few raindrops as they reviewed efforts being made by public-safety and human-services agencies and safety-net groups as they work together to improve the outcome of responses to those experiencing mental-health troubles.
“We have fleshed out a ‘crisis continuum of care’ – we looked at the gaps,” said Deborah Warren, deputy director of the Department of Human Services and executive director of the Community Services Board.
The program attracted a number of community leaders, including County Board Chairman Christian Dorsey, Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti and former U.S. Rep. Jim Moran.
On display at the event was the county’s Mobile Outreach Support Team (MOST) van that will enter service later this summer, allowing for mental-health professionals to be dispatched at a moment’s notice to aid those in crisis.
Funded by a $490,000 federal grant, the unit will be in operation weekdays from 1 to 9 p.m., considered to be the peak times mental-health problems to arise.
Among other recent upgrades:
• There is now a regional call center, staffed 24/7, to handle calls from those who are in, or are aware of someone in, crisis. It can be reached at (844) 627-4747 and is serving as the local 988 hub.
• The region has expanded mobile crisis services to all ages 24/7 as part of the Community Regional Crisis Response (“CR2”) initiative. They can be reached at 844-N-CRISIS or (571) 364-7390.
• The national suicide and crisis lifeline, though still in its infancy (with some challenges to work through, Allen acknowledged), will be marketed more aggressively later this year. It can be accessed nationwide by calling or texting 988.
• A new crisis-intervention facility at the Department of Human Services headquarters on Washington Boulevard now has dedicated staff on hand 24/7, and provides space for those experiencing a crisis to spend up to 23 hours decompressing and de-escalating from crisis events while receiving appropriate levels of care.
• Training is ongoing with Arlington public-safety personnel, including 911 emergency-communications workers, on addressing mental-health interactions with the public. Scenario-based training puts an emphasis on de-escalation skills, Jones said.
• County Board members and VHC Health recently inked a deal that will provide upgraded behavioral-health facilities in the coming two years.
“It’s an excellent partnership,” Warren said of the county government’s interactions with VHC Health. The agreement will aid in addressing a long-standing shortage of psychiatric beds in Virginia, she said.
As for “Marcus Alert”? It is an outgrowth of the Marcus-Davis Peters Act approved by the General Assembly during the governorship of Ralph Northam, designed to enhance coordination between 911 and crisis-call centers and to dispatch the most appropriate behavioral-health responses from law enforcement when someone is in crisis.
The law was named for Marcus-Davis Peters, a teacher who died in 2018 during an interaction with Richmond police during a mental-health crisis. It is being rolled out statewide through 2028.
Prince William County was the first in the region to have its program up and running, followed by Fairfax County. Pending state-government approval, Arlington, Alexandria and Loudoun County are expected to debut their programs next year.
Jones will spend coming months laying the groundwork for Arlington’s Marcus Alert efforts, then continue efforts at refining them. She called efforts to make the system better “a living organism that will continue to grow.”
