The role of social workers in crisis response is critical

    National Association of Social Workers – Michigan Chapter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

12/14/2021

The role of social workers in crisis response is critical

LANSING, MICHIGAN — It may not be common knowledge, but Michigan is home to 29,000+ social work practitioners and 6,500 incoming professionals. Social Work professionals remain the largest percentage of the behavioral health workforce in the United States. For that reason, social workers could, and should, become primary responders to emergency behavioral health crises. As a profession, social workers have a firm understanding of barriers, gaps, and needs of those experiencing a behavioral health crisis. Therefore, the profession is positioned to add to the national-level dialogue on improving the behavioral health crisis care continuum. Social workers have come to understand how interdisciplinary multi-sector collaboration is essential to improve behavioral health crisis services for those who need them.

In this social justice issue, social work experts help us better understand the emergency crisis response systems that are newly emerging in reaction to the recent calls for police reform. There are a growing number of emergency crisis response models that are showing promise in facilitating increased non-police responses to crises. However, as these system changes occur, there is a simultaneous need for increased funding at the state and local levels to expand mobile crisis services and other community-oriented emergency response models.

In addition, the brief will discuss the intersection of existing 911 and emerging 988 suicide crisis response systems, and their impact on reimagining emergency crisis response systems. In that the transition to a full continuum of crisis care will be a major expense for states and local jurisdictions, the brief will discuss state and federal funding options being made available to those governments. Finally, our analysis will touch upon the social work profession being a major stakeholder in both mobile crisis reforms and the development of a 988-suicide crisis system throughout the United States.

Learn more about social workers role in crisis response and recommendations for reimagining emergency crisis response systems here.