LEONARDTOWN, Md. — On July 7, 2025, the St. Mary’s County Health Department, in coordination with the Charles County Health Department, announced the launch of a new mobile crisis team to provide immediate and critical support to individuals experiencing behavioral health crises.
Behavioral health in this case encompasses both mental health and substance use, meaning the crisis team will respond to crises related to either or both.
The team is administered and operated by The Santé Group, a behavioral health services organization. Its expansion into two of the three counties of Southern Maryland increases its coverage to 14 of Maryland’s 23 counties, most of which are located in the Eastern and Southern regions of the state.
To access Santé Southern Maryland Crisis Response, individuals can call or text 988.
In a press release, the St. Mary’s County Health Department described the makeup and role of the mobile crisis team: “The mobile crisis team consists of a trained mental health professional and a peer support specialist who respond to individuals in crisis in their home or community. Currently, the mobile crisis team is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to midnight to provide in-person support to those in crisis. Santé’s experienced phone counselors are also available 24/7 to support the residents of St. Mary’s and Charles counties.”
“The mobile crisis team will work closely with local resources,” said Tina Marie Brown, director of the Santé Southern Maryland Crisis Response. “Our goal is to reduce emergency room visits and divert community members from incarceration by connecting them to local resources. We look forward to working with all St. Mary’s and Charles County providers to build an effective and efficient crisis service.”
A more specific description of the service’s operations is outlined in Santé’s public announcement of the program: “The behavioral health professional will complete a mental health assessment and make referrals for treatment, while the peer recovery specialist with lived experience will walk with you and ensure you have the support you need through providing personal safety and a treatment or crisis plan.”
The announcement comes at a time when St. Mary’s County, in particular, is experiencing significant strain on its mental health system, which several metrics suggest will struggle to meet the needs of the county without improvement.
For example, there were 2,915 hospital discharges per 100,000 Medicare recipients in 2023 — the second-highest rate of any county in Maryland. This indicator reflects the quality of primary health care services available, as people are more likely to overuse hospitals when primary care options are limited.
For those in need of in-hospice care, there are a total of 12 beds specifically dedicated to psychiatric use in the county’s only hospital in Leonardtown. Individuals seeking outpatient and primary care for mental health issues encounter similar systemic challenges. St. Mary’s County has the lowest number of mental health providers per 100,000 residents in the state, with only 152 psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, counselors and advanced practice nurses specializing in mental health care across the county, as of 2018 (the most recent publicly available data). The county’s population is 115,281.
Reported rates of depression in adults alone indicate that more than 25,000 adults in St. Mary’s County have been diagnosed with depression — just one of eight categories of mental health issues defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Beyond publicly available statistics, the impact of a strained mental health system is tangibly felt by residents who often face months-long wait times for mental health professionals, are forced to seek care outside the county or forgo medical care altogether. It’s that last option, in particular, that the new mobile crisis team seeks to address — delivering quality care to those most in need, who might otherwise go unseen and untreated.
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we need payphones please
this is good news if it is used and I hope it is. thank you for sharing this story.
Interesting – call united way, as I have. They are a crisis line. Tell them that you’re looking for a phone to use + they’ll tell you that they can’t direct you toa phone. They should work on that! Ok, ok, we can limit this to MD Maryland.