EMPS Offers in-School Support for Children in Crisis

ROCKY HILL, Conn., March 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- On any given day, there are thousands of children across Connecticut and nationally in need of an intervention for behavioral and/or emotional crises.  For educators whose students are experiencing such crises, EMPS, a free mobile intervention service for children and adolescents in crisis provided in partnership by the State of Connecticut and United Way of Connecticut 2-1-1, is pleased to offer phone and mobile support throughout Connecticut.

By dialing 2-1-1 and, when prompted, pressing '1' for 'crisis', educators can gain access to EMPS' team of nearly 150 trained mental health professionals across the state that can respond immediately, face-to-face or by phone, to help manage the student's behavioral or emotional crisis.  EMPS can help when a student is acting violently or dangerously, unresponsive to authority, destroying property or out of control, threatening to hurt himself/herself or others, and/or having a behavioral crisis that is too much for the school to handle internally.

"Oftentimes, 9-1-1 is contacted for immediate support when a child is in crisis while dialing 2-1-1 for Emergency Mobile Psychiatric Services (EMPS) is a more appropriate solution," Robert Plant, Ph.D., Director of Community Programs and Services, State of Connecticut Department of Children and Families. "By calling 2-1-1 EMPS, educators can receive both immediate and ongoing support for their students while working to reduce the number of expulsions, suspensions and juvenile arrests that result from behavioral crises."

EMPS phone support is available 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, and mobile support, Monday through Friday from 9:00a.m.-10:00p.m. and from 1:00p.m.-10:00p.m. on weekends and holidays.  Following the crisis, an EMPS clinician and members of the provider team will meet with the student's family for up to six weeks, develop an action plan and connect them with additional community resources to help the student work through the challenges that prompted the initial crisis.

To learn more about how EMPS can help manage and respond to behavioral and emotional crises in schools, visit http://empsct.org.  

About EMPS:

Emergency Mobile Psychiatric Services (EMPS) is a mobile intervention service for children and adolescents experiencing a behavioral or mental health crisis that is accessed by calling 2-1-1. Funded by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families and in partnership with the United Way of Connecticut, the program comprises a team of nearly 150 trained mental health professionals across the state that can respond immediately by phone or in person within 45 minutes when a child is experiencing an emotional or behavioral crisis.  To learn more, visit http://empsct.org or for support during a crisis, dial 2-1-1 and press '1' for 'Crisis.'

SOURCE EMPS