Crisis Center’s New Crisis Response Service: Youth SOS
We are so excited to announce that as of March 20th, our newest service is fully operational!
Youth SOS is a 24/7 mobile crisis response team for youth ages 0-25 residing in San Mateo County who are experiencing an escalation in mental health symptoms. Community members can directly access this service by calling our 24/7 crisis hotline, 650-579-0350. Our hotline workers will assess the caller’s situation and directly hand off to a Youth SOS staff member for further triage. Youth SOS response teams consist of both a mental health clinician and family partner. They will work together to de-escalate the situation, reconnect the person in crisis to safety, and help both the youth and family connect to longer term supports and services.
Youth SOS Program Manager, Brook Pollard, ASW
We asked Brook Pollard, Program Manager, a few questions about the purpose of this new service and what impact she hopes the service will have.
This is the first youth mobile crisis response team for San Mateo County. What do you see as the goal of this service?
The ‘umbrella’ goal would be to support youth and their families when they are at their most vulnerable in a way that is trauma-informed and creates safety. With that goal in mind I would imagine other outcomes and goals would start to be met as well. One thing I hope comes from this service is a decrease in the number of youth psychiatric visits. Often times, folks- through not fault of their own- assume the only option when a person is experiencing a mental health crisis is to hospitalize them. As a clinician with lived experience; meaning I have had my own mental health challenges, including suicidal ideations and behaviors; I know and have seen how hospitalizations can at times be triggering and traumatizing in a situation that is already very difficult. In fact, some say their experiences in those settings can be so impactful that they do not want to express when they are in a crisis again due to their last hospitalization. Not all mental health crises need the level of care that a hospital provides. So my hope, or goal, would be that folks recognizes there is another option out there when they are in crisis.
How do you see Youth SOS fitting in to the spectrum of crisis services already present in the county?
Our county works on a continuum of care when it comes to crisis services. The layers are: Prevention- before something happens, Intervention- when something has happened, and Postvention- after an event happens. While our service will mostly will function within the intervention portion, we will also have services that touch both prevention and postvention work. Currently, in our county there are limited in-person options for when a youth is in crisis. If they are in school they can be seen by a school therapist, assuming they have one-which is unfortunately not always the case. If they are at home, they can access a number of crisis services over the phone or internet. If things escalate they may feel that the hospital is their only option to seek out in-person support. Now they will be able to call our hotline and potentially have the Youth SOS team come out. Our team is not only meant to be for youth, but will also support the family as a whole. The Youth SOS Team will be comprised of both therapists, who will predominantly work with the youth, and family partners, which will work with the family.
What excites you about this new service?
EVERYTHING! [Ha] Seriously though, I am just incredibly excited that we are able to start this service in our County. Most counties around ours have a program like this up and going. I think it is great to have a roadmap to follow as well as being able to see the real outcomes that a program like this can have. A program like this is needed.
What is one thing you feel is important for youth to know about this service?
I know it may sound redundant as we are called the “youth” SOS Team, but I would want the youth of SMC to know that this service is for YOU! This is not a services that will work against you or try to bulldoze you into an option- unless of course safety is not going to be maintained. We are here to meet you wherever you are at in your mental health journey and support you in healing and safety. We will work not only with you, but alongside your family to ensure safety and support.