Community Crisis Services Plan was identified by community leaders and members as an action, that when combined with other actions in our community, that has a reasonable chance of making a difference in mental health in our community. This is an ongoing program in our community.

Polk County feels it's necessary to review the current Community Crisis Services Plans in relation to involuntary commitments to ensure the community is making the biggest impact. Necessary improvements have been identified and will be the main objectives over the course of the next several years. Priority will focus on course of action when a patient in crisis is identified.

The priority population for this strategy are those who are struggling with mental health challenges at the highest rates including geriatric and low income populations, and this strategy aims to make a difference at the organizational/policy level. Implementation will take place in the community and at organizations that may experience a community crisis.

This strategy will also focus on mental health disparities. It is our goal for the new plan to help increase access for all Polk County residents.

Evaluation Plan:

We plan to evaluate the impact of this strategy through the use of Results-Based AccountabilityTM to monitor specific performance measures. We will be monitoring How Much, How Well and/or Better Off Performance Measures.  Our evaluation activities will be tracked in the Work Plan table, above. 

Sustainability Plan:

The following is our sustainability plan for this strategy: 

• Sustainability Component 1: Use performance measures to ensure ongoing effectiveness and demonstrate success to local government officials and other key stakeholders.
  • By tracking our progress through our performance measures, we will be able to provide evidence for sustaining our efforts to local government officials. We can provide evidence of our successes at County Commissioner Meetings and local forums.
• Sustainability Component 2: Communicate and engage diverse community leaders and organizations.
  • By engaging diverse community leaders such as our church leaders, we will be able increase community awareness and support for our efforts to identify champions to help sustain our efforts.