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C4 mobile crisis van makes community debut
C4’s mobile crisis van made its first trip into the community on February 17 at the Rincon Family Services open house, where staff offered tours of the mobile clinic and answered questions from community members and other behavioral health providers alike.
The van – affectionally known as Van Diesel – allows those in need quick and easy access to the kind of care usually only available in more formal settings, like crisis risk assessment, brief therapy, emotional support, and connections to other services. In addition, anyone who accesses the van’s services is paired with an engagement specialist who has been through recovery themselves and has lived experience with mental illness health or substance use.
Although the van’s main purpose is to be available for rapid dispatch to individuals in need of crisis response services, allowing clinicians and peers to work together to provide support, the community engagement aspect facilitates better collaboration with other agencies. C4 has partnerships with other local organizations, including La Casa Norte, where we plan to take the van in the coming months to offer on-site, no-barrier support to clients and community members – we are still seeking partnerships with living room programs, drop-in facilities, and shelter programs (for more information, follow the link at the bottom of the page).
Betty Salcedo, case manager supervisor for the Rapid Response program, said that while she initially didn’t know what to expect, she was pleasantly surprised by the van’s reception and hopeful for its future.
“A lot of feedback we received from talking to others at the living room program was that they have never seen a van being utilized for services to the community in this capacity,” she said. “It feels great that the company I work for has a resource that not many – or any – agencies have to provide services and hope to those within our community.”
Pictured left to right: C4 staff Kelsey DiPirro, Pedro Arrendondo, Torri Sims, and Betty Salcedo standing behind a table with information about the crisis continuum and C4 services.
C4 was invited to the event at Rincon by Stacy Erenberg, Director of Neighborhood Services, from Alderman Rosanna Rodriguez’s office in the 33rd Ward. The event brought together different layers of the crisis continuum, as living room programs are often the most approachable space for folks that are experiencing a crisis to turn to for help. C4 was able to represent two elements of the crisis continuum, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Prevention Lifeline and the 590 or Mobile Crisis Response Program. C4 has been central to the myth busting around 988 and how the hotline is developed to serve people telephonically, while 590 is designed to come to the doors of our community members to ensure that they have access to care from the space in which they’re the most comfortable. Staff heard and answered questions from both community members seeking clarity on the distinction between crisis lines and other behavioral health providers looking to enhance care coordination.
“It felt great to be able to promote C4 and the work that we do to new faces and hopefully new clients,” Betty said. “The city is so big, and I know resources are out there, but it was exciting to see the space, be physically present in the space, and to talk to staff about services they offer as well as telling them about C4.”
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