Crisis Services

Elkhart and St. Joseph County residents experiencing a mental health crisis can call 574-533-1234 24/7 to speak with a local trained specialist who will help assess your situation. Often, crises can be resolved over the phone by talking through and planning with a professional. If not, our staff can link to other crisis services for further help.

You can also call 988, the new national suicide and crisis hotline, to connect with trained counselors who will listen, understand how problems are affecting you, provide support, and connect to resources if necessary.

After further assessment, if a crisis can’t be resolved by phone, our St. Joseph County Mobile Crisis Response Team may dispatch to meet with individuals in the community. This multi-disciplinary team consisting of therapists, recovery coaches and case managers operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday. To contact the Mobile Crisis Response Team, call 574-533-1234, option 1.

Since 2019, Oaklawn has worked closely with invested community partners to identify gaps in our local mental health system. After convening interested parties from local health, law enforcement and government bodies, as well as studying how other communities have addressed similar concerns, partners agreed that an integrated system of mobile crisis teams and a crisis center would be the most effective way to address the serious gaps in our behavioral health infrastructure. The partners began planning for a St. Joseph County Behavioral Health Crisis Center. 

Read more about the status, background and need for the center here.