SAMHSA Releases Compendium on Strategies for Accessible & Effective Crisis Care

The Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released a new compendium, titled Connected and Strong: Strategies for Accessible and Effective Crisis and Mental Health Services, which reflects the current best thinking toward advancing SAMHSA’s vision of crisis care that is available 24/7 and responsive to wherever the person in crisis is located.

Comprised of 10 papers, authored by subject matter experts, this compendium builds upon the core principles of the SAMHSA National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care and the Youth Crisis Guidelines. Together, these papers lay out recommendations and highlight specific strategies to connect the oftentimes fragmented crisis care system and strengthen America’s approach to providing behavioral healthcare overall. The papers include:

• Connected and Strong: Strategies for Accessible and Effective Crisis and Mental Health Services
• Peer Support Services Across the Crisis Continuum
• Growing and Strengthening the Behavioral Health Crisis Response Workforce
• Crisis Services: General Medical and Psychiatric Approaches to Care Delivery
• Innovative Uses of Technology to Enhance Access to Services Within the Crisis Continuum
• Crisis Systems Coordination and Collaboration: Leveraging Strengths and Opportunity of 988 and 911
• Facilitating Rapid Access to Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Use Care
• Increasing Equitable Access to Care for Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
• Intersectionality: Faith, Mental Health, and Community Partnerships
• Long COVID and High-risk Populations