Eureka’s Crisis Response Team to Serve Unincorporated Eureka, Hopefully Helping MIST Focus on Other Parts of the County | Lost Coast Outpost

Mental health clinicians and case managers work in the Crisis Alternative Response of Eureka team. Photo: City of Eureka Facebook.

Crisis Alternative Response Eureka — a city team that responds to calls for mental health or substance use intervention — will soon take over response in more areas.

Behavioral health professionals are hopeful a recent agreement will help the county’s team focus on farther flung areas.

CARE signed a service contract with the Behavioral Health Branch of the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in March to cover unincorporated areas of Eureka, including Myrtletown, Cutten and Pine Hill.

Jacob Rosen, CARE’s Managing Mental Health Clinician, said serving the areas will hopefully help support Humboldt County’s Mobile Intervention & Services Team (MIST), which offers mobile crisis response throughout the county.

“When you think about the demand that they have from the state, they need to be able to provide rural crisis response out into, say, Hoopa or Whitethorn,” noted Rosen.

Rosen estimates this means CARE will soon serve an area with an additional 10,000 to 15,000 people, including multiple residential mental health facilities. He said the team is prepared for the increased call volume.

The city-run team launched in 2023. CARE began responding to certain 911 mental health calls without police in 2025, and started working seven days a week in February.

The two teams already have a great relationship, Rosen said, where CARE will handle a call routed to MIST, or vice versa.

Between the experience of MIST, CARE, Eureka Police Department, and Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, Rosen hopes they can “bring that experience into one room and really improve the system,” he said.

There are two MIST mobile crisis response teams covering the county, an operation that runs 24/7, 365 days a year.

“Contracting with CARE has allowed our agency to focus on providing mobile crisis response to the rest of the county,” said Behavioral Health Deputy Director Paul Bugnacki, in an email sent by a spokesperson.

The MIST teams have a wide geographic area to cover.

While Bugnacki said there have been days a MIST team is in Shelter Cove in the morning and Hoopa that afternoon, “The good news is, this doesn’t happen very often and not every crisis requires an in-person response,” he said. When multiple calls come in, Bugnacki said the team prioritizes responses, and is very good at managing crises over the phone.

The contract with DHHS also allows CARE to bill Medi-Cal for the service under the Mobile Crisis Benefit through CalAIM.

There’s been quite a few changes in how these teams have been funded, according to a 2024 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury report, which found programs like CARE and MIST need stable sources of funding to be successful.

“The only thing different about our crisis services is that they are more available now than they have been in the past. As we continue to expand these teams in the county, our communities will have greater access to support before, during and after a crisis occurs,” said Bugnacki.

All mobile crisis teams are deployed through local crisis lines and local 911 dispatch. Individuals can access MIST or CARE by calling the crisis line at 707-445-7715, toll-free at 1-888-849-5728, or 988.