Skip to main content
King County Logo
LIT
17

Crisis Services

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health or drug- and/or alcohol-use related crisis, help is available for everyone in King County, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.


How to get crisis care

  • First, Call or Text for Help

    988 or the Regional Crisis Line: 206-461-3222

    Trained volunteers and mental health professionals from Crisis Connections help people on the phone, connect people to services or can send mobile crisis teams to respond in-person.

    Call 911 if the mental health crisis poses a threat to life or safety. In South King County, crisis counselors in 911 call centers support people who call related to a mental health or drug or alcohol use crisis.

  • What's next

    Get an appointment within 24 hours

    You can get an appointment with a mental health or substance use provider for yourself or someone you’re helping. They can connect you to treatment and services you want. 

    For appointments related to substance use: Contact the Washington Recovery Line: 866-789-1511. 
    For appointments related to mental health: Contact 988 or the Regional Crisis Line: 206-461-3222. 

    Teams can come to help you where you are

    • Mobile Crisis Teams are groups of trained crisis workers who go anywhere in King County to help adults, families and children in moments of crisis. Call 988 to get their help.

    • Outreach Teams work around King County to help people who might be experiencing a crisis, including at City Hall Park in Seattle and at Metro and Sound transit stations. 

    • Designated Crisis Responders (DCRs) assess a person's mental health and risk of harm to themselves or others in times of crisis. DCRs are trained to treat people in crisis with respect.

  • Help after a crisis

    King County Client Services Line: 206-263-8997

    People with Medicaid can call to receive care and support after a crisis,so they can recover and be healthy long term. Mobile crisis teams and the crisis care centers provide follow-up services for clients after a crisis.

What are Mobile Crisis Teams?

King County has 32 mobile crisis teams serving adults and youth

The mobile crisis teams are trained mental health workers and peers with lived experience of mental health or substance use challenges, who travel across King County to help people where they are in a crisis, responding to emergency calls in under an hour on average. DESC and Sound responds to help adults, and YMCA responds to youth and families. 

Call 988 for their help

Crisis and Commitment Services


King County Crisis and Commitment Services offers evaluation of people with behavioral health disorders for involuntary detention in psychiatric and secure withdrawal facilities according to the State of Washington law. The law for adults is RCW 71.05. For youth 13 through 17 years of age the law is RCW 71.34.

Crisis and Commitment staff who perform these duties are Designated Crisis Responders (DCRs). They are mental health professionals who are specially trained to conduct a holistic investigation of risk and to treat the person in need with dignity and respect during their time of crisis. Learn about Designated Crisis Responders in King County.

    Contact Crisis Connections at 988 or 866-427-4747. This is the centralized access point for all telephone crisis services in King County, including for children. A trained Crisis Connections volunteer will gather information about the recent behavior and assess what the appropriate next step is

    If the situation needs an evaluation by the DCR your contact information will be forwarded to King County Crisis and Commitment Services. The DCR on duty will contact you and gather additional information.

Under state behavioral health laws (RCW 71.05 and RCW 71.34), there are the specific circumstances where a person can be detained for involuntary treatment:

Due to a behavioral health disorder:

  • They are a danger to self
  • They are a danger to others
  • They are a danger to others' property
  • They are gravely disabled

AND

  • They are unable to engage in an appropriate less restrictive treatment option
    ​

FAQs: Implementation of Ricky's Law - Integrated Involuntary Treatment

FAQ: Joel’s Law - Filing a Petition for Initial Involuntary Detention of a Family Member

expand_less