Mental health crisis intervention available to El Paso students in schools

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- A mental health crisis can develop at any time, anywhere.

That's why Emergence Health Network has a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT).

At the start of the 2022-2023 school year, EHN began a partnership with both the El Paso and Canutillo school districts and its CIT.

"We knew there was a need," said Bridgette Leyva, the program manager for EHN. "Since we started in Aug. 2022 we have seen a huge increase in our calls and in our call volume.

"The children and adolescents that we saw coming through our crisis clinic were from this district," she added.

Now, students who are having a mental health crisis can be helped at their school by trained mental health care professionals.

Leyva said the CIT's goal is to reduce the stigma associated with mental health crises.

"When we (respond to) the call, it's not all about stabilizing the client and providing the appropriate or necessary resources that they need at that time," she said. "It's also educating the families, the guardians, the counselors that are involved, and the administrator that is involved as well."

This federally-funded collaboration allows a team of qualified mental health practitioners to be dispatched to the El Paso or Canutillo campuses once a call is dispatched through the districts' police services.

El Paso ISD, with 83 campuses and roughly 60,000 students, is the largest district in the county. Canutillo ISD has ten campuses and more than 6,000 students.

Leyva said they can treat students and staff experiencing emotional distress, to delusions and hallucinations, to psychotic episodes, to self-harm.

"We've seen a lot of suicidal outcries," Leyva said. "A lot of the times when the students are making the suicidal outcries, we take every single one seriously. Whether it was they were joking, or they said it because these are the things people are saying on social media, or Tik Tok, we take every single one seriously."

Leyva added, the purpose is to address the cause of the outcry.

Since the launch of the collaboration EHN has received at least 5 calls a week from each district.

EHN is looking into expanding the CIT into other area districts as well.

If you're experiencing a mental health crisis, call the EHN Crisis Hotline: 915-779-1800.