Meeting Crisis With Connection: The Power of Peer Specialists on Mobile Crisis Teams

Over the past several years, New York City has increasingly shifted toward community-based responses to behavioral health crises. In the past, individuals experiencing psychiatric emergencies were often limited to hospital emergency departments or interactions with law enforcement. While those systems still play an important role, there has been a growing effort to develop alternatives that meet people where they are and focus on stabilization within the community. Mobile treatment models such as Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) and Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) are central to this approach, providing ongoing support to individuals with serious mental illness who may struggle to remain engaged with traditional outpatient care. Within these teams are our talented Peer Specialists, who are individuals with lived experience of mental health recovery. Peer Specialists play an important and critical role in engagement, stabilization, and long-term support.

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