Mobile Outreach Safety Teams (MOST) 2022-2023 Combined Evaluation

• In Event: Deflection and Diversion Collaborations in Northern Nevada

Abstract

People experiencing acute mental health crises often pose a risk to themselves and to community safety. Mobile Outreach Safety Team (MOST) programs operate in Northern Nevada at the community level to deflect people with mental illness and substance use challenges away from formal justice system involvement (arrest, citations, fines, incarceration, etc.) and toward connection with community-based service providers who can help them. MOST is a co-responder partnership between law enforcement and Licensed Clinical Social Workers to respond to community members in crisis. This study examined client data from three Nevada counties operating separate MOST programs, including data call-level indicators, contact incident indicators, and person-level indicators. Across the three counties, MOST data included 1,089 new contact calls for service and 686 follow-up calls. MOST refers consumers to community-based services for calls related to psychotic episodes, age-related cognitive impairments, neglect of basic needs, and more. Data collection is challenging for MOST. The programs discussed in this report employed different methods of data collection, while working to streamline their data based on inter-county collaboration and recommendations from the previous evaluation. This paper details the populations served and other findings from the evaluation. We offer additional recommendations for program and data quality improvement.

Authors

• Brian Lee, University of Nevada, Reno

• Veronica Dahir, University of Nevada, Reno

• Jennifer Lanterman, University of Nevada, Reno