A group of Henderson licensed mental health professionals has become the first dedicated response team in Nevada that can be dispatched through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline as part of a pilot program, the city announced this week.

Lisa Kelso, a licensed clinical supervisor for the city’s Crisis Response Team, said during Tuesday’s Henderson City Council meeting that the unit, made up of licensed clinicians and licensed social workers, launched in July 2025 and works with the city’s police and fire departments to be dispatched automatically after officials receive a behavioral health-related 911 call.

From last July until December, Kelso said the city received about 1,700 calls related to behavioral health.

“On scene, our licensed mental health clinicians can complete assessments and provide treatment recommendations,” Kelso said Tuesday. “We work to connect to the individual to the right level of service.”

City official: 988 model reduces strain on 911

Kelso said a formal partnership with the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health is still being finalized, but the goal is to begin dispatching the Crisis Response Team in Henderson through 988 later this year. She noted that Nevada currently has just two 988 call centers, one in the northern part of the state and another in Southern Nevada.

According to a Wednesday news release from the city, expansion of the 988 program — which launched nationally in 2022 — seeks to make support immediately available during mental health or substance use emergencies.

Nationally, Kelso said, an estimated 10 percent to 20 percent of all 911 calls are related to behavioral health and that less than 2 percent of calls to 988 have required law enforcement intervention. Hayley Jarolimek, a licensed social worker and director of Henderson’s Department of Community and Neighborhood Programs, told City Council members on Tuesday that older approaches to mental health crises have traditionally resulted in high incarceration rates for those with mental illness and have strained care systems.

Jarolimek said the 988 model reduces pressure on emergency services like 911 and allows law enforcement and firefighters to respond to service requests that align more with their missions.

State developing certification process

Henderson’s Crisis Response Team is able to dedicate professionals to provide immediate support by telephone, text or chat in English and Spanish, as well as provide personnel to respond on-site to de-escalate crises and connect people in need to treatment and support resources to stabilize them during times of crisis, Jarolimek said.

“This framework is designed to prevent the criminalization of mental illness and to enhance collaboration between the justice system and the behavioral health systems,” Jarolimek said. “It identifies critical intercept points where interventions can prevent further involvement into the criminal justice system.”

In an email Thursday, Jesse Stone, a spokesperson for the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, thanked Henderson for its participation in the pilot project. Stone said the division is developing regulations that will allow certified mobile crisis teams be dispatched through 988.

“The initial pilot project is the first stage of a larger effort from DPBH that would allow any mobile crisis team across the state, in any municipality, to be dispatched from 988 after meeting minimum standards to receive a Behavioral Health Certification of Excellence,” Stone said.

Those regulations, Stone said, are tentatively expected to go into effect in 2027.

Contact Casey Harrison at charrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on X @Casey_Harrison1.