Tag: Mental Health Care
New Mental Health Crisis Center Aims to Interrupt Revolving Door of Jail and ER Visits
The new clinic in Jefferson County will offer short-term crisis care to people who might otherwise wait hours at a hospital or wind up in jail. Read more.
Community Leaders Gather for Open House of Montgomery Mental Health Crisis Center
MONTGOMERY — Community and Alabama Department of Mental Health leaders gathered Wednesday to get their first look at one of the three new mental health crisis centers going up across Alabama.
These facilities will provide 24/7 care for anyone experiencing an acute mental health crisis and are meant to ease the burden on local emergency rooms and jails that have become the main receivers of individuals in crisis. The other facilities will soon open in Mobile and Huntsville. There are also plans to open a fourth in the Birmingham/Tuscaloosa area. Read more.
Bill Would Allow Law Enforcement to Take Those in Mental Health Crisis Into Protective Custody
A bill working its way through the Legislature would allow law enforcement officers from designated agencies around the state to take people into protective custody if there is “reasonable cause to believe that the individual has a mental illness and is an immediate danger to himself or herself or others.”
The individual doesn’t have to be charged with a crime and the detainment is not an arrest. The hold can last up to 72 hours if not extended by a probate judge.
“This is for those acute cases, to get those individuals stabilized in a hospital setting and hopefully get them care,” sponsor Rep. Wes Allen, R-Troy, told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Read more.
Mental Health Bills Advancing in State House
MONTGOMERY — Lawmakers this week began taking action on a package of bills and resolutions related to mental health in Alabama.
“The mental health problem in Alabama is an epidemic, not just a problem,” said Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman. “The Legislature before most of us got here had to cut the funding … because we were in the Great Recession in 2010.
“We’re feeling the repercussions of that now in today’s society from more and more people that are needing in-patient and out-patient (mental health care), there’s not enough on both sides,” he said.
Those cuts included the closures of three mental health hospitals in 2012 and 2015. Read more.
