Mental Health Services

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Transformational Progress: Oklahoma City's Mental Health Services

Challenges, Innovation, and Solutions

Transformational Progress Report cover Mental health is a community issue. Residents receive the best services when everyone works together. With community input, partnerships with mental health care providers, assistance from expert consultants, and unyielding determination, the City is enhancing mental health service delivery on a transformational level.

The Transformational Progress Report is part of a larger effort to keep residents informed about the City’s mental health-related programs and services. It illustrates the City’s dedication to enhancing mental health services for all and showcases the City’s innovative mental health and public safety initiatives.

The City of Oklahoma City is enhancing the way we interact with and provide services to people experiencing a mental health crisis. Here are some resources within the City and outside the organization that are dedicated to assisting residents in need.

Get Help Now

988 (managed by ODMHSAS)

If you or a loved one are having a mental health crisis, call 988, a 24-hour helpline dedicated to providing mental health resources. You can also text to 988 or chat at https://988lifeline.org/chat/.

Homelessness

Contact the Action Center to report homeless concerns. Email action.center@okc.gov, call (405) 297-2535 or text (405) 252-1053.

211 (managed by HeartLine)

To get connected to services, contact HeartLine at 211.

Oklahoma City Police Department

Mental Health Guide

OKCPD launched its Mental Health Guide in December 2023. The Guide provides police personnel with a single, up-to-date resource that addresses new programs and recent changes and provides new directives, guidance, and useful information related to mental health response. Topics include:

Recognizing people in crisis
911 call intake and diversion
Police response
Tools and resources
Alternatives to arrest
And much more

Full guide available here.

iPad Tele-med Program

OKCPD issues iPads to officers so they can connect people in crisis to mental health services in the field by using the iPads. The use of the iPad allows for people in crisis to have a video consultation with a mental health professional 24 hours a day.

Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)

This team is made up of police officers who successfully completed a 40-hour CIT training and is dispatched when a person poses a threat to themselves or others. The program focuses on mental health, substance abuse, and crisis response training. These officers respond when requested by another officer, the 911 Communications Unit, a family member, a caregiver, or a mental health mobile response team.

Triaged Resources Urgent Support Team (TRUST) Program

In 2019, OKCPD partnered with the Department of Human Services (DHS) and NorthCare to create the TRUST Program which empowers OKCPD officers to refer people experiencing or nearing a mental health crisis to essential social services during their shifts. This initiative has been immensely successful and recently broadened its resources by welcoming Red Rock and HOPE into the program.

The OKCPD CIT Unit manages the referrals and promptly connects people with the appropriate service providers. Many of the referrals are based on mental health concerns. However, the TRUST Program is also used to provide follow up services to people for a wide range of community needs, including housing, food insecurity, and transportation. The TRUST Program helps to ensure every resident in need is connected to the appropriate community resources for comprehensive care and support.

CHAMPIONS Program

OKCPD and NorthCare have a mental health crisis mobile response program comprised of teams that are dispatched to incidents involving people experiencing a mental health crisis. This team, which includes a mental health professional and peer support specialist, delivers on-call, on-scene professional mental health services to residents.

Oklahoma City Fire Department

Community Advocacy Program (CAP)

The CAP started in 2019 and offers help to people who chronically call 911 for non-emergencies. When Fire Department staff makes a referral to CAP, the team (made up of a firefighter and social worker from OKDHS) evaluates the person’s needs, which will sometimes include referrals to the State Department of Health or a Certified Community Behavioral Health Center (CCBHC). 

Overdose Response Team

The Overdose Response Team was started in July 2023 and responds to patients who recently survived an overdose. A Fire Department paramedic partners with a Certified Peer Specialist from one of the certified community behavioral health centers to provide medical follow-up after the overdose, as well as guidance toward rehabilitation services. 

EMBARK

EMBARK has contracted with the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma to provide a behavioral health case manager to assist customers experiencing mental health crises. By dedicating a resource to customers, EMBARK maintains the ability to connect customers to numerous community resources tailored to their specific needs. The case manager actively engages EMBARK customers throughout the Oklahoma City’s transit network (Transit Center, Fixed Route Buses, Rapid BRT, Streetcar) and can be found wearing a purple vest.

Oklahoma City Planning Department

Homelessness: A Better Way

The “A Better Way” program offers panhandlers lunch and a $65 daily wage for work like litter removal in parks and other public areas. A case worker helps connect them with, and guide them through, services like:

Mental and physical healthcare
Substance use counseling
Federal and state benefits
Housing
Transportation
Training

Learn more here.

Homeless Street Outreach

The City contracts with Mental Health Association of Oklahoma to provide a street outreach and crisis response team focused on helping people who are experiencing homelessness. This program is aimed at providing homeless people with housing support and other wrap-around services, such as mental health, healthcare and employment.

MAPS 4

Mental Health Centers

MAPS 4 will transform Oklahoma City’s mental health system with $44.6 million in capital projects that will provide a restoration center, a crisis center, and temporary housing to support new mental health and substance abuse services.

The $24.5 million restoration center, to be operated by NorthCare, will provide a public inebriate alternative, medically supervised detox, substance abuse counseling, and medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction, among other things. The $12.6 million crisis center, to be operated by the Oklahoma State Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, will provide at least 32 additional crisis beds in the city.

MAPS 4 also includes $7.8 million to construct temporary housing for people experiencing mental illness and homelessness while transitioning out of a crisis center. Details available here.

Family Justice Center

MAPS 4 will sustain the transformational effects of the Palomar Family Justice Center by building a new, permanent, $42 million facility for the family justice center that was first created by the Oklahoma City Police Department. Palomar assists victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse, human trafficking, and supports children exposed to trauma. Read more here.

Diversion Hub

MAPS 4 will provide a $18.9 million diversion hub to transform the City’s approach to criminal justice, relieve pressure on the Oklahoma County jail and help low-level offenders establish a more productive life. The Diversion Hub works with low-level offenders to provide an alternative to incarceration. Read details here.