Since mental health crises aren’t confined to business hours, the Indian River County Hospital District is working with its funded agencies to expand an existing program that sends a mental health professional to help prevent arrests and involuntary commitments by getting people the timely help they need.

When a 911 call comes in for a person experiencing a mental health crisis, the unit of trained professionals would respond with police and emergency medical personnel, with the role of the psychiatric practitioner being to de-escalate the situation, to prevent the person from harming themselves or others.

“We are moving forward in a coordinated effort to bring 24/7 Mobile Response Team services to Indian River County. Currently New Horizons provides this to our county but only during the day. We are looking to extend this to 24/7.  This will be better care for the clients and their families and be safer for the mental health providers and law enforcement,” said Hospital District Executive Director Frank Isele. 

Isele said he’s researching what other Florida counties do and how they accomplish it, to find a model that incorporates the best practices for positive outcomes. As of press time there was no cost estimate for the program, or data on the availability of grants to cover it.

Though the district has been in discussions with New Horizons to expand beyond daytime response, no agency has officially taken the lead in providing and staffing the overnight response capabilities, Isele said. The program, which is already up and running in other counties, is still in the planning stages for Indian River, but Isele said “a solution is in process.”

Indian River Shores Public Safety Deputy Chief Mark Shaw said he is aware of the New Horizons program, that his officers can alert dispatch that a mental health professional is needed to respond, but that the Shores has never had to use the service.

“I know a lot of larger law enforcement agencies throughout the country are going the route of employing someone in the department who is trained in mental health,” Shaw said, adding that with the Shores being a small agency and having so few calls for people threatening drug overdoses or suicide by other means, it would not warrant having someone on staff.

Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey said his agency has not dealt with the New Horizons crisis response personnel, but over the years the department has sent numerous officers through advanced training for dealing with various mental health situations, from suicidal people to dealing appropriately with people on the autism spectrum.

Vero officers have received commendations in the past few years for their handling of these types of crises, such as “talking down” people threatening to jump from the two lagoon bridges located in the city.