Cherokee nation behavioral health mobile crisis team - the cherokee nation behavioral health (cnbh) mobile crisis team (MCT) project will establish a behavioral health practitioner-only (BHP-only)…

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Cherokee Nation $750,000 on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532) to establish a behavioral health practitioner-only mobile crisis team across the Cherokee Nation Reservation.

The mobile crisis team will deliver 24/7/365 crisis response service across the 6,950-square-mile, 14-county reservation in northeastern Oklahoma, serving a population of 521,336 residents with particular attention to rural residents, children and families, veterans, and individuals with limited access to transportation or insurance. The project addresses a critical gap: Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health currently has no trained behavioral health responder workforce and no alternative to law enforcement for mental health and substance use crises. Existing crisis care is clinic-bound, limited to business hours, and ends without follow-up. Long driving distances—some exceeding one hour to the nearest emergency department—compound these gaps for approximately 263,000 residents in rural areas. The grant will fund workforce development, protocol establishment, and partnership building to launch and sustain the independent mobile crisis service. The population of focus includes children, youth, and adults experiencing mental health or substance use disorder crises. An estimated 22,800 adults in the catchment area experience serious mental illness, 89,200 experience any mental illness, and 10,900 meet criteria for co-occurring substance use disorder and serious mental illness annually. Twelve of the fourteen counties exceed the state's adult incarceration rate, reflecting how often unaddressed behavioral health crises resolve through the justice system rather than clinical care.

Performance takes place in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, with the award period running through September 29, 2030.

Cherokee nation behavioral health mobile crisis team - the cherokee nation behavioral health (cnbh) mobile crisis team (MCT) project will establish a behavioral health practitioner-only (BHP-only) mobile crisis response service across the cherokee nation reservation, a 6,950-square-mile, 14-county jurisdiction in northeastern oklahoma with a population of 521,336, roughly half of whom live in areas the census classifies as rural. Cnbh currently has no trained workforce to place behavioral health responders on scene and no alternative to law enforcement for mental health and substance use crises; existing crisis care is clinic-bound, limited to business hours, and ends without follow-up when a crisis resolves on its own. Long driving distances, some exceeding an hour to the nearest emergency department, compound these gaps for the roughly 263,000 residents living in the reservation's rural areas. Building the workforce, protocols, and partnerships to launch and sustain an independent, 24/7/365 mobile crisis service is the foundational work of this grant. The population of focus is children, youth, and adults experiencing a mental health or substance use disorder crisis anywhere in the catchment area, with particular attention to rural residents, children and families, veterans, and individuals with limited access to transportation or insurance. Among the area's 395,219 adults, an estimated 22,800 experience serious mental illness, 89,200 experience any mental illness, and 10,900 meet criteria for a CO-occurring substance use disorder and serious mental illness in a given year. Twelve of the fourteen counties exceed the state's adult incarceration rate, half exceed the state's juvenile justice referral rate, and eight exceed the state's child maltreatment rate, reflecting how often unaddressed behavioral health crises resolve through the justice system rather than clinical care. Adolescents carry acute risk locally, with 19% of catchment-area secondary students reporting serious thoughts of suicide in the past year, and 11,126 households, 5.6% of the total, have no vehicle to reach a fixed-site provider during a crisis. Cnbh will pair a licensed behavioral health practitioner with a peer recovery support specialist on every crisis response, launching with weekday coverage and expanding to 24/7/365 response across all 14 counties by 9/29/28 (goal 1). To divert crises from law enforcement and emergency departments (goal 2), the MCT will resolve at least 75% of crises in the community without emergency department admission, arrest, or involuntary transport by 9/29/29. To reduce suicide deaths and attempts (goal 3), every in-person response will include a validated suicide risk assessment, post-crisis follow-up will occur within 72 hours for at least 75% of responses, and linkage to behavioral health services will happen within 30 days for at least 80% of individuals assessed at moderate or higher suicide risk. Goal 4 will build the partnerships, workforce, and sustainability needed to maintain the MCT as a long-term component of the regional crisis continuum. These goals align with samhsa priorities and will be monitored through CQI activities, quarterly spars reporting, and annual progress reports.