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County officials say mobile crisis teams and a phone triage upgrade have reduced response times
Summary
DHHS and crisis‑center leaders told councilmembers they expanded MCOT teams to seven during peak hours, added clinicians to co‑response pilots with MCPD, and implemented a phone‑system triage that prioritizes first‑responder and behavioral‑health calls.
County executive‑branch officials told the joint committees that operational changes since the OLO report have increased in‑person mobile responses and shortened some wait times.
"We do have up to 7 mobile crisis and outreach teams available during peak hours to respond to behavioral health crises in the community," Monica Martin, Chief of Behavioral Health and Crisis Services at DHHS, said. Martin described partnerships with the Montgomery County Police Department and Fire & Rescue, a DHHS supervisory therapist assigned to MCPD’s crisis‑intervention efforts, and a co‑response pilot that began in late summer.
DHHS also completed the first phase of a phone‑system upgrade in July that now offers callers a prioritized menu: first responders and emergency rooms, then callers experiencing behavioral‑health crises, then people experiencing homelessness, then other inquiries. Dornay Hills, a DHHS senior administrator, said the triage will later migrate to a cloud‑based system after wiring upgrades to allow the center to collect demographic and outcome data that are not currently captured.
Committee members asked for metrics and a timeline; DHHS said it is now tracking MCOT dispatch response times and expects improved reporting as the cloud migration completes.
