Goals of Emergency Services are:
(1) to enhance the well-being of persons in emotional crisis, taking advantage of the emotional crisis period to help such persons make changes in their life situation which enable them to function at a more satisfactory level than prior to the crisis; (2) to prevent suicides; and (3) to minimize the need for unnecessary hospitalization, its stigma and expense, through the formulation of alternative treatment plans and the assertive implementation of such plans.

A basic clinical value in all work done by Emergency Services is that the intervention should always emphasize maximum reliance upon the client's own strengths and resources. Most psychiatric and emotional emergencies can be managed on an outpatient basis, with immediate availability of mental health professionals who can develop with the client a short-term, intensive treatment plan. Services include: response to suicide attempts and high-risk threats to self or others; short-term stabilization and case management of persons experiencing an acute psychiatric problem; gatekeeping hospital admissions; monitoring of hospitalized patients; Crisis Home program; consultation to police and other community agencies; and services to survivors of suicide.

› Emergency Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Telephone Service
is a 24-hour telephone service that provides initial assessment, information and referral services, telephone counseling and, in many cases, serves as a vital link for persons not agreeable to face-to-face contact but presenting a substantial suicide or homicide threat. It is also an important element in the community support system for persons with serious, long-term mental illness.

› Crisis Intervention Service (CIS)
is a 16-hour, mobile unit based in the Emergency Services Program. A team of clinicians has the capacity to follow the client throughout the crisis, providing face-to-face contacts, management of psychotropic medications, and short-term, intensive case management until the crisis is resolved or the individual is stabilized and ready for referral to an ongoing program. Wraparound, supportive services by Mental Health Aides can also be provided.

› Crisis Stabilization / Crisis Home Program / Recovery
This program provides a wide array of services aimed at assisting Dane
County residents in becoming and remaining stable in the community, in lieu of hospitalization or other institutional placement. Services offered include short-term stays at Crisis Homes or Recovery House, a four-bed stabilization facility. Additionally, the program employs over 35 mental health aides (MHAs), many of whom are mental health consumers. MHAs assist individuals with support, structure, transportation, medication monitoring and short-term case management. In addition, the crisis stabilization program coordinates stabilization services provided by a number of other community agencies throughout Dane County.

› Consultation Services
Emergency Services is a primary source of consultation to law enforcement officers, mental health/human service workers, and medical personnel on responding to psychiatric emergencies.

› Survivors of Suicide / SOS Brochure; More information
Working with the Dane County Coroner, Emergency Services staff make themselves available to those who have survived the suicide of a loved one. A self help group, SOS, facilitated by volunteer survivors and staffed by Emergency Services staff has been offered twice per month since 1980. A quarterly SOS newsletter is published and widely distributed.

› Youth Crisis / more info
The program's mission is to help children and youth develop more positive conflict resolution skills, while also trying to reduce the number of school suspensions, out-of-home or institutional placements, and hospitalizations. Youth Crisis also provides support to caregivers and professionals working with children and youth in crisis situations.