Mobile crisis units on Tuesday council agenda

Mindy Ragan Wood, The Norman Transcript, Okla.
·2 min read

Oct. 19—Norman city councilors on Tuesday will get an update on the progress of a statewide mental health crisis hotline and response program.

The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services will speak with the council during its Tuesday night study session. The council first explored the possibility of creating a mobile crisis response team and a hotline to take mental health calls instead of using the Norman Police Department in July 2020.

The Transcript learned in June 2021 that the state legislature increased funding to expand the agency's statewide mobile crisis program, and that Norman has had two mobile crisis units for several years.

Department spokesman Jeffrey Dismukes said many components of the program are still seeking bids, but the program and hotline is on track to go live from a call center by June 2022.

Another component of the response includes a municipality's ability to use the agency's third party transport services for people in crisis, he said. Changes to a state law will allow third party transport when the patient will travel more than 30 miles to a facility as of Nov. 1.

Dismukes said the hope is for families in crisis to reach out for help sooner than when law enforcement becomes necessary.

"We believe this will maybe help them to engage and reach out early in these situations," he said. "There are situations where families are reluctant and things escalate and get worse when they could have asked for a response earlier."

The agency will use contracted mental health providers across the state to expand its existing mobile crisis program and construct a call center for the 988 hotline's response. It will also contract with a third party for transport services, Dismukes said.

To date, the council has set aside $1 million for a mobile crisis program, but the consensus is it will consider partnering with the agency instead of attempting to run a city-managed program, The Transcript reported.

"Norman is such an educated and caring community," Dismukes said. "I think this is a community where we can really change things and hopefully model this for others."

The council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall.

Mindy Wood covers City Hall news and notable court cases for The Transcript. Reach her at mwood@normantranscript.com or 405-416-4420.