Crisis Response

Ensuring Nebraskans experiencing a behavioral health crisis receive the right care, at the right time, in the right place.

North Star Vision

Nebraskans experiencing behavioral health crises receive timely and compassionate care through a coordinated, 24/7 response system that prioritizes alternatives to emergency departments and jails.

Potential Strategies

  • Expand multidisciplinary mobile crisis teams that deploy mental health professionals to homes and community settings to de-escalate crises and connect individuals to appropriate care.

  • Increase local 988 capacity, coordination, and public awareness so it functions as a reliable front door to crisis services with clear handoffs to mobile response, stabilization, and follow-up care.

  • Increase access to 23-hour crisis stabilization and short-term observation services as alternatives to hospitalization, emergency departments, and incarceration.

  • Develop dedicated psychiatric emergency or crisis units within or adjacent to hospitals and urgent care settings to provide timely, specialized behavioral health care in appropriate environments.

  • Use telepsychiatry and virtual crisis services to extend specialist access in rural and frontier communities, ensuring timely assessment and treatment when in-person options are unavailable.

  • Strengthen peer support roles in crisis response, stabilization, and follow-up care, including peer respite and peer navigation, to support engagement, trust, and continuity after a crisis.

  • Provide training, protocols, and co-response options for law enforcement, fire, EMS, and first responders to safely de-escalate behavioral health crises and connect individuals to treatment-based alternatives.