CONCLUSION
People can experience mental health crises for many different reasons. Some require a quick crisis intervention, and some require more in-depth interventions. Healthcare professionals are likely to encounter a patient who is experiencing a mental health crisis, and using a systematic approach to helping these patients resolve the crisis is a skill that all healthcare providers should acquire.
Individuals experiencing an emergency-producing mental health crisis need immediate, appropriate, and sensitive care, whether the crisis is caused by a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental illness diagnosis. Although clinicians who work in emergency departments and on crisis hotlines encounter these individuals every day, all healthcare professionals should be educated to rapidly assess, plan, and intervene in such emergency situations.
Mental health crises have a high risk for poor outcomes, and it is imperative that healthcare professionals respond appropriately, following ethical principles for healthcare and with regard for the legal issues and consequences that may be involved.
RESOURCES
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) (FEMA)
Crisis text line
Text “HOME” to 741741
Joint Commission Standards on Restraint and Seclusion
National Alliance on Mental Illness
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
988 or 800-273-TALK (8255)
866-833-6546 (teen link)
741741 (crisis text line)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline
800-622-HELP (4357)
Violence prevention (CDC)
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