King County expands mobile crisis teams and opens STAR Center partnership with DESC

King County and the Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC) described an expanded mobile crisis response network and the integration of new shelter-based behavioral-health services at the STAR Center during a Health, Housing and Human Services Committee briefing.

Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) officials said the county is now supporting 27 mobile rapid response crisis teams operating 24/7 across three geographic areas (Central, South and Northeast). Kelly Ryder, director of DCHS, said the expansion is funded in part by the Crisis Care Centers levy and other state and local dollars, and that the county has committed significant staffing and managerial resources to maintain the new capacity.

Katrina Plowinski, clinical director of DESC’s mobile response division, described the STAR Center (Stability Through Access and Resources) as a time-limited, 24/7 noncongregate shelter with an explicit behavioral health focus for people with severe and untreated psychiatric and substance-use disorders. "By providing a safe place for individuals in crisis to stabilize and access care, STAR reduces the impact of unmanaged behavioral health symptoms on public spaces,"…