The number of children seeking care for a mental health crisis in an emergency department is on the rise. With often limited mental health services, hospitals in rural areas bear an excessive burden.
That’s why HRSA created a new toolkit.
Use our toolkit
How does our toolkit help you?
It can better prepare hospital emergency departments to manage and coordinate care for children and adolescents in mental health crisis.
You can tailor the resources to your specific needs, patient population, and community.
Can you use the Critical Crossroads toolkit?
If you establish policies and protocols in emergency departments, you can use this toolkit.
This includes:
- Hospital administrators
- Social workers
- Pediatric care coordinators
- Physicians and nurses
- Mental health providers
Who developed the toolkit?
HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) Program partnered with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) to create Critical Crossroads.
Which federal partners also worked on the toolkit?
- Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies
- Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Indian Health Service (IHS)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
- Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR)
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
- Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
*We did not create this toolkit to dictate care. However, we do provide resources to guide the development of care pathways.
Contact Us
Lorah Ludwig
Public Health Analyst