Mobile Crisis Toolkit Public Comment Submission
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is welcoming public comment on a newly drafted implementation guide for Mobile Crisis Team (MCT) Services, titled, “Mobile Crisis Team Services: An Implementation Toolkit” (PDF | 6.3 MB). The aim of this toolkit is to serve as an actionable source of information about how to provide MCT services for people experiencing mental health and/or substance use-related crises. This document serves as the first implementation guide to support the development of crisis services and systems in accordance to the recently finalized Model Definitions for Behavioral Health Emergency, Crisis, and Crisis-Related Services (PDF | 1.5 MB) and the 2025 National Guidelines for a Behavioral Health Coordinated System of Crisis Care (PDF | 1.4 MB).
The landscape for behavioral health crises in the United States is transforming significantly. SAMHSA has laid out three essential elements for crisis service delivery as per the aforementioned recently released 2025 crisis guidance documents:
- Someone to Contact
- Someone to Respond
- A Safe Place for Help
The recent implementation of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline has led to the expansion of crisis services and offers a significant expansion of the first of the three main components of a comprehensive crisis system. Access to the hallmark element of “Someone to Respond”, the ability to receive crisis services in the community via a response from a Mobile Crisis Team, is growing rapidly. Recognizing the lack of availability of a comprehensive document that provides concrete direction about how to implement and provide MCT services, SAMHSA drafted this toolkit to fill that void. This toolkit is based on the best available information at the time of publication, including SAMHSA and CMS guidance documents, extensive experience in the field to date, and the limited research currently available on how MCTs are best designed and implemented. SAMHSA also sought consultation from a panel of experts to identify and incorporate best and promising practices. As such, this toolkit reflects a collaborative process that combines empirical evidence with expert panel members’ extensive experiences in a variety of areas.
Prior to the finalization of this toolkit, SAMHSA is inviting the public to provide feedback in the form of written comments regarding the contents of the toolkit. This invitation will be open from January 15, 2025, through March 21, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET.
SAMHSA is broadly seeking positive, neutral, and critical feedback regarding what is helpful and what to change in areas such as clarity, consistency, coverage of key information, comparison with current practices, implementation feasibility, and/or other concerns.
Please submit comments using the below form. If there are any additional questions, please email MCTtoolkitPublicComment@jbsinternational.com.