Crisis Services: A Critical Community Support

Child Focus Crisis Services are a crucial part of mental health care and essential for the overall safety and well being of our community.  Crisis Services are utilized by individuals in crisis and their families, as well as health and mental health care, education and law enforcement personnel.   Your support will help Child Focus expand services to support more Southwest Ohio children and adults in mental health crisis and provide support when they are most vulnerable. 

Child Focus works to prevent mental health problems from developing or worsening and to promote wellness in collaboration with community organizations.  Crisis Services are able to assist in cases involving the need for hospitalization but also seek to develop plans for less restrictive measures, when appropriate, in an effort to avoid unnecessary hospitalizations which are distressing for individual clients, their support systems, and may contribute to a financial burden. Crisis Services also provides training and education to law enforcement officers, probation officers, corrections officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel regarding de-escalation strategies for individuals who are experiencing a mental health crisis.

Clermont County Crisis Hotline, 528-SAVE (7283) operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year and provides phone crisis intervention to adults or children who are experiencing an emotional crisis which often includes thoughts of suicide and, in some cases, an active plan for suicide.  Clermont County Crisis Hotline is also available to assist concerned family members and community stakeholders with providing appropriate assistance to individuals who are experiencing an emotional crisis and may be in need of active intervention and/or connection to available community resources.

Clermont County Mobile Crisis Team provides face to face crisis intervention services to adults and children in the community who are often at risk for suicide and/or at risk of harming others due to untreated mental illness. Clermont County Mobile Crisis Team performs risk assessments in these instances and assists with hospitalization or connection to other appropriate community resources, as needed. Clermont County Mobile Crisis Team is often utilized by local law enforcement agencies in an effort to arrive at appropriate dispositions for individuals who are involved with law enforcement and are experiencing an emotional crisis which is out of the scope of law enforcement practices. Clermont County Mobile Crisis Team is also utilized by adult and juvenile courts and correctional facilities to perform risk assessments and to assist with connecting individuals who are involved with the criminal justice system to available resources for mental health and/or drug and alcohol treatment.  This service is initiated by local law enforcement. 

Crisis Services also offers daily crisis intervention appointments at Child Focus for children who are at risk for suicide, are at risk of harming someone else, or are experiencing active emotional crises which have been unable to be resolved by the child’s support system. Crisis Services utilize the skills of active intervention to engage the child in an effort to determine the most appropriate course of action based upon the child’s level of risk. Crisis intervention appointments are individualized with the goal of helping to insure the safety and well being of the child while enhancing their overall functioning. 

The Clermont County Crisis Response Team (CRT) provides support to local schools, businesses and communities in crisis. The team is co-led by Child Focus, Inc. and the Clermont County Educational Service Center.  The CRT boasts over 80 volunteer grief counselors from several social service and educational agencies in Clermont County. Since its inception in 1994, the CRT has responded to more than 150 calls for crisis intervention due to severe injury and death, murder, suicide and natural disasters.  

Crisis services affect our entire community and are utilized by individuals in the community who are experiencing an emotional crisis in tandem with community treatment professionals, law enforcement officers, first responders, healthcare professionals, educators, courts, correctional facilities, family members, and any other member of the community who has concerns regarding individuals who are experiencing an emotional crisis.   Crisis services are funded by the Clermont County Mental Health & Recovery Board and levy, as well as grants from Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services and Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance.  For more information on these programs call Child Focus at 752-1555 or go to www.child-focus.org for more information.