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Williamson County to readjust mental health calls when Round Rock forms its own unit

Austin American-Statesman - 10/20/2021

With Round Rock forming its own new mental health crisis team in the spring, Williamson County officials said this week it would dissolve its mobile outreach team and have the county's mental health authority field all calls outside the city.

Bluebonnet Trails Community Services will handle all of the county's 911 mental health calls outside Round Rock beginning in the spring, county commissioners said Tuesday.

The change is happening partly because the county expects to lose most of the members of its mobile outreach team to the Round Rock crisis team, some commissioners said.

Round Rock plans to hire 13 people for a team to help people in crisis with mental or other issues that the city's emergency services can't handle, said Round Rock interim Fire Chief Shane Glaiser. He said the community risk reduction team is expected to start in April.

If the county's mobile outreach team kept operating once the Round Rock team starts, there would be three mental health teams in the county, said Chris Connealy, the senior director of the county's emergency services.

READ: Mental Health calls double for Williamson County crisis team during coronavirus pandemic

Bluebonnet Trails has a crisis team that responds to 911 calls after the county's mobile outreach team ends its daily shifts around 9 p.m.

"I don't think it makes sense to have three mobile outreach teams in the county," Connealy told the commissioners on Tuesday.

Commissioner Valerie Covey agreed. "We don't want to duplicate services," she said.

"The mobile outreach team has been an integral part of the county for over 15 years and they have done an excellent job," Covey said. "We want to continue great service. Bluebonnet already provides 24/7 service throughout the county."

Bluebonnet Trails also has recently committed to providing more services to jail inmates with mental health issues, Covey said.

Andrea Richardson, the mental health authority's executive director, told the commissioners that Bluebonnet Trails will continue to work with the sheriff's office and county paramedics to help people who call 911 with mental health issues.

Having a mental health crisis team for county residents is important, said Commissioner Terry Long.

READ: Crisis care providers save lives in Williamson County

She said she struggled to find a local place to help evaluate an elderly friend with dementia this week. When she finally called the county's mobile outreach team, it was able to quickly find a facility in Waco.

"I was a classic case of why having a mobile outreach team is important," said Cook.

Glasier said Round Rock needs its own crisis outreach team because of the city's growth, and wants to take the burden off of firefighters and police who respond to situations where a trained mental health professional might instead be needed.

"We don't want to be the next negative thing you see on the news," Glaiser said, "that Round Rock failed to prepare for someone in mental crisis in a situation that ended up in death."

The city currently receives 2,500 to 3,000 911 calls for help annually involving people in crisis who may have mental health issues or just need food or medicine, he said.

Twenty-five percent of the calls that the county's mobile outreach team receives come from Round Rock, said Connealy.

Round Rock plans to use $5.7 million in American Recovery Act money over a three-year period for its community risk reduction team, Glaiser said.

The team's goal will be to have its clients be self-sufficient within 90 days, he said.

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