A blueprint - and a testing ground.

In the West, crisis care has had time to mature. It’s where long‑standing systems demonstrate what’s possible over time — and where new approaches are tested to meet emerging community needs.

Together, these experiences offer counties a clear picture of what sustainable crisis infrastructure can look like — including measurable outcomes that show how fast access, low readmission rates, and strong rates of community discharge can be sustained across different environments.

Arizona is the foundation.

Arizona is the foundation. For more than a decade, Connections’ crisis centers in Phoenix and Tucson have operated at scale, serving tens of thousands of individuals each year with fast access to stabilization and follow‑up care.

These centers helped establish a national best practice for crisis response — demonstrating that immediate, community‑based alternatives can reduce reliance on emergency departments and jails while maintaining quality and safety over time. Today, those outcomes remain consistent, with rapid clinical response times, low readmission rates, and a majority of individuals stabilized and discharged back to the community.

Montana: access where distance is the barrier.

In rural Montana, geography changes everything. Mobile crisis teams were designed to meet people where they are — literally — delivering care across vast distances and reducing unnecessary transport to hospitals or detention.

Even in this environment, the model delivers strong results — helping the vast majority of individuals remain safely in the community after receiving care. The lesson for counties is simple: crisis systems must adapt to local realities without sacrificing outcomes.

Washington and California: building what comes next

In Washington, partnerships evolved from a single site into a broader, county‑led crisis system, where high rates of community discharge and reduced reliance on emergency services are already demonstrating system impact. In San Francisco, a new approach to substance use response is launching — designed to break cycles of emergency department use and incarceration. These efforts reflect a shared goal: right care, right setting, at the right time — supported by data that shows the model can scale while maintaining performance.

See how the West approaches crisis care.

Download the 2025 Community Impact Report to explore Connections outcomes, long‑term performance, and how different communities adapted the model to their needs.