Wolff, Jason2018-04-122018-04-122008https://hdl.handle.net/11299/195671Occurring in all age groups and populations, mental illness remains among the most frequent health concerns in the United States. In recent years, emergency mental health service provision has evolved beyond traditional hospital and police based intervention and assessment to include more comprehensive and tailored systems of care. Prime among this evolved system of care are mobile mental health crisis services. These services seek to address a wide variety of consumer needs, from initial assessment and referral to stabilization and after-care. In Minnesota, emergency mental health services vary greatly by locale despite state legislation which seeks to standardize and provide crisis services, and access to and awareness of such services remain low. Moreover, training for relevant professionals (such as police and EMTs) often fails to adequately prepare these service providers to effectively deal with mental health emergencies. Current system needs are assessed by way of literature review, analysis of extant data, and interviews with persons relevant to specific areas of service. Crisis service systems from outside of Minnesota are likewise assessed and recommendations for changes to services in Minnesota are made based on these other service models as well as best-practice standards.enCommuniversitypublic healthReport