Expanding A Proven Mobile Crisis Model To Multiple States: The Benchmark Human Services Case Study 

Expanding A Proven Mobile Crisis Model To Multiple States: The Benchmark Human Services Case Study 

Successful service models cannot simply be copied from one state to another. Executives looking to expand a proven program must determine which elements should remain consistent and which must adapt to local geography, workforce capacity, resources, partnerships, and community needs. 

For mobile crisis services, successful expansion requires preserving the clinical and operational practices that drive results while building a delivery model around the realities of each community. The strategic question for executives is how to create the partnerships, infrastructure, operations, and flexibility needed to replicate a successful model and sustain performance in a new market. 

In this one-hour live presentation, Benchmark Human Services’ (Benchmark) Idaho State Director, Dr. Jaime Garza, and Georgia State Director, Selina Popovich Evans, will share how Benchmark drew from more than 15 years of mobile crisis experience in Georgia to develop its mobile crisis services in Idaho. The speakers will examine how an established model was adapted to reflect Idaho’s geography, rural communities, available resources, local partnerships, and community needs. 

The speakers will share Benchmark’s mobile crisis teams sit within each state’s crisis continuum, funding and staffing models, and services delivered – and how in Idaho, the model had to be redesigned for rural distances, variable local resources, and the needs of local communities. They will also share practical advice for executives designing or refining rural or emerging mobile crisis programs.

What This Presentation Explores  

• How Benchmark’s footprint across more than 20 states enables teams to share clinical practices, operational strategies, data, and lessons learned across state lines 
• Which elements of Georgia’s mobile crisis model transferred successfully to Idaho and which required adaptation for rural geography, local resources, deployment, and community partnerships 
• How Benchmark’s mobile crisis teams build bridges across behavioral health, justice, emergency services, and other organizations to strengthen the statewide crisis continuum 
• How Benchmark measures performance across staffing, workforce challenges, service volume, response patterns, dispositions, outcomes, and system impact 

What Executive Attendees Will Learn 

• How to apply practical lessons on adaptation, partnerships, workforce challenges, and outcomes so leaders can design or refine mobile crisis services that fit the unique needs of the places they serve 
• How a new state program can use a proven mobile crisis model as a template and still modify it to fit local people, culture, and rural community conditions 
• How mobile crisis teams operate as conduits in a statewide crisis system of care by building bridges between organizations and delivering accurate information about what is actually happening in the communities they serve 

Featured Speakers

Selina Popovich Evans, LCSW

State Director, Georgia, Benchmark Human Services

Selina Popovich Evans, LCSW, is the State Director for Benchmark Human Services in Georgia. With experience in community mental health, addiction, and direct care, Selina currently provides direction for Benchmark’s behavioral health and intellectual and developmental disability crisis services across Georgia. Selina is an advocate for incorporating lived experience throughout the crisis system and for ensuring individuals experiencing a crisis receive effective, person-centered care in their communities and in the least restrictive setting appropriate for safety.

Jaime Garza, Ph.D.

State Director, Idaho, Benchmark Human Services

Jaime Garza, Ph.D., is the State Director for Benchmark Human Services in Idaho. With more than 20 years of experience in behavioral health, addiction, and crisis services, Jaime currently provides direction for Benchmark’s Mobile Crisis Services across Idaho. Jaime is an advocate for building crisis systems that meet the unique needs of the communities they serve and for ensuring individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis receive effective, person-centered care in their communities and in the least restrictive setting appropriate for safety.