HATTIESBURG — When the phone rings for Pine Belt Mental Healthcare Resources’ Mobile Response Team, Coordinator Martin Moore is ready to respond — one example of an expanding model of mental health care in the Magnolia State. 

“Our mission is to meet individuals in a crisis, both in a figurative sense and in a very literal one,” Moore said. “These are individuals who are having thoughts of suicide, self-harm, maybe homicidal thoughts. It may be a loved one calling the line because they have someone that they care about who’s in an episode of psychosis or mania, and we try to respond to that and de-escalate those individuals.” 

Mississippi’s state-run behavioral health hospitals are treating fewer patients in traditional inpatient settings — with the number of available beds decreasing from 646 in 2011 to just 326 in 2022, according to the Mississippi Department of Mental Health. 

Mobile response teams offer an early intervention alternative. Community members can reach their local crisis team directly or call 988 to be routed to the nearest responders through the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. 

“Before we had these mobile crisis services and 988, if you were having suicidal ideations or manic symptoms — if you needed assistance and you needed it now — the only option was to go into a hospital,” Moore said. “Now we’re able to meet people where they are and provide an alternative to still get them pretty quickly into services.” 

Barriers in rural communities 

There are currently 14 mobile crisis teams operating statewide. Moore’s team, based in the Pine Belt, covers 18 counties — including many rural areas where care can be difficult to access. 

Mississippi has the fourth-largest rural population in the nation, with 51.2% of residents living in rural areas, according to the state’s suicide prevention plan. Living far from health care providers often compounds the challenges posed by poverty, limited transportation, and low access to substance use and mental health services. 

“The most common barrier that we see to someone pursuing treatment or receiving treatment is a lack of access to transportation, especially in those rural counties,” Moore said.  

He explained that while the team doesn’t operate as a general transportation service, there have been times during emergency response calls when they have helped individuals get to a medical appointment because the person had no other way to get there. 

Crisis calls and 988 referrals 

According to MDH, the state’s mobile response teams made 2,100 visits with community members in the 2023 fiscal year, and 2,711 visits last fiscal year. In this first half of this fiscal year, they have been deployed 1,430 times — more than half the total visits from the year before. If that pace continues, Mississippi could see another annual increase by year’s end. 

That growth aligns with a 30% increase in Mississippi’s use of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline since its rollout, which replaced the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in 2022. Brenda Patterson, executive director of Contact the Crisis Line — a 988 call center in Jackson — said around 900 of those 988 calls this year were referred to mobile response teams. 

“I think (988) has had a tremendous effect, because a good 80% of the calls are managed within the call, so there’s not a need to reach out to any additional resources,” Patterson said. “But of those calls that need immediate attention afterward, we’re able to do a warm handoff to one of the mobile crisis centers in the state.” 

Meeting young people where they are 

Suicide is now the third leading cause of death among Mississippians ages 15 to 24. About 53% of suicide deaths in the state occur in people ages 25 to 54, according to the state’s prevention plan. 

The 988 lifeline includes options for online chat and text — crucial tools for reaching younger people and others who may feel uncomfortable making a phone call. But Patterson said those options can be more demanding on crisis responders. A phone call might last 15 minutes. A text conversation or chat session can stretch to 90 minutes or more. 

“To really provide some of the emotional support some of our chat visitors need, we have to step into their space and experience some of the feelings that they’re feeling, and that can really be emotionally draining,” Patterson said. “Some of the people who come to chat and text, they may leave in the middle of the conversation, and it may be that they’re actually chatting or texting in the classroom and the bell is ringing … but we don’t know that. We just know they’ve disconnected.” 

Training law enforcement to respond 

Staffing remains a key challenge. To address that, the Mississippi Legislature passed the Mississippi Collaborative Response to Mental Health Act in 2023. The law requires that all law enforcement officers complete crisis intervention team training by July 1, 2031. 

Law enforcement is involved in roughly one-third of mobile crisis deployments, and that number may rise as more officers complete training. 

Rita Porter, director of adult services at Pine Belt Mental Healthcare Resources, said CIT training is already helping reduce use-of-force incidents and jailings. 

“Instead of responding to a crisis, as they might normally be trained to do in an authoritarian sort of way, they actually have the skills to de-escalate,” Porter said. “For one of our jails that we trained, they found that after implementing the CIT skills, there was a 40% decrease in the number of use-of-force incidents.” 

She added that CIT-trained officers and mobile crisis teams working together leads to more people following through with care. 

“The other significant difference for us is that when a CIT-trained officer puts these skills to use, there are many fewer repeat calls for crisis to 911,” Porter said. 

Building partnerships to bridge gaps 

The National Alliance on Mental Illness helps connect Mississippians with mental health care when mobile response teams aren’t available. Mavis A. Creagh, president of NAMI Pine Belt, said the nonprofit reaches about 1,500 people each year. 

She said the need for mobile response has only grown since the pandemic. 

“Since the pandemic, a lot of things have kind of bubbled up to the top — stressors. Some people have lost jobs or had additional strain. Some families have issues as far as housing and feeding. It’s a lot of stress on people who may have been just maintaining before, but now the stress level has gone up,” Creagh said. 

She said that NAMI’s collaboration with mobile crisis and CIT teams is essential, especially when dealing with people experiencing homelessness, co-occurring disorders or suicidal ideation. 

“For the people who may not have anybody to talk to, and may feel like they’re at their wits’ end … I think the crisis intervention teams are important for that as well,” Creagh said. 

Community members seeking support can call, text or chat with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, contact their local NAMI warmline, or reach out to a nearby crisis response center. Law enforcement is not automatically involved in 988 calls, and in Mississippi, these calls are not recorded. 

For Moore, being part of a mobile crisis team isn’t just a job — it’s personal. 

“Getting to be a part of that difference for people really means a lot to me, because I’ve been able to see situations where, in very direct ways, I knew that if the mobile crisis team had not gotten involved, it would have cost a life,” Moore said. “I have seen that, and I’m tremendously proud to be a part of that.”