As part of its expansion into becoming a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, Hamilton Center, Inc. has expanded its mobile crisis services to Sullivan County.
HCI has operated a mobile crisis unit from its main office in Terre Haute for the past four years.
Lesli Bose, HCI’s director of crisis diversion, said the Sullivan office was chosen for the expansion due to the county’s high suicide completion rate.
The mobile crisis unit currently operates from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but Bose said once the facility is fully staffed it will run 24 hours a day, seven days per week.
Incoming calls will serve a 45-mile area surrounding Sullivan.
Bose noted the Sullivan office has a mini-van dedicated to these runs, and lack of transportation to the HCI office is one primary reason for the need of the service.
“Some people don’t have transportation, especially a lot of individuals that are in rural areas,” she said. “It’s quite a long way for some of them to get to an office when we’re talking about the area that we’re serving. The unit allows our team to go to wherever they are. Sometimes they’re out in the public at grocery stores or at a park, but a lot of times they’re at home.”
Bose noted the primary goal of the team is to de-escalate that crisis on scene and provide support and intervention resources.
“We hope to be able to resolve that crisis in the community,” Bose said. “If not, then they can provide assessment on-site or bring them back to an office if there’s not an appropriate location for them to be assessed in the community.“
Depending on the location, bringing the individual back to an office may happen if there is nowhere private to assess the person.
“Otherwise, they will provide that assessment in the field, and then they can determine along with the prescriber the appropriate level of care and then get them to a higher level of care if that’s what’s recommended,” she said.
Increased awareness of the program will allow it to grow as time passes, and Bose thinks it has been successful so far.
“We have been able to help some of the community partners there in the schools,” she noted. “We’ve had some other runs within the Sullivan community. It is slowly developing, but they’ve been successful in being able to get people served that aren’t able to come into offices.”
Bose said that 10 more staff members are needed to reach the around the clock goal for the mobile crisis unit. Anyone interested is encouraged to visit hamiltoncenter.org/employment to learn more about the positions and fill out an application.
Bose emphasized the importance of peer recovery specialists (staff members who are successfully in recovery) in the process of helping consumers.
“Peer recovery specialists are really effective since they’re able to provide lived experience themselves with mental health and or substance use,” she said. “They’ve been very helpful in engaging consumers, building rapport with them, increasing their motivation for change or to engage in treatment. The peers have been very, very beneficial to our team.”
Rose Shepler, health educator for the Sullivan County Health Department, is thrilled with the expansion of the mobile crisis unit and thinks it will be highly beneficial for the Sullivan County community.
“I think it’s a great idea and very much needed,” she said. “Sullivan County would benefit from resources that help to decrease successful suicide rates. Indiana’s average is actually higher than the national average, and Sullivan County specifically is higher than Indiana’s average.”
Shepler noted that Sullivan County has also taken steps itself to help with the problem, opting in for the Health First Indiana initiative. This legislation was passed in 2023 and prioritizes core services in a fatality review of children, suicide, and overdose.
“In thinking about the unit, a lot of times our law enforcement officers are responding to a mental health crisis situation and they may lack the resources to support someone in crisis,” she said. “Hamilton Center’s mobile crisis will be a valuable asset to provide that needed care and support for people in crisis.”
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