DENVER, Colo. — There’s a new type of emergency room in some cities designed to provide care specifically for someone experiencing a mental health crisis.

The Behavioral Health Solution Center in Denver, Colorado, is a first-of-its-kind facility offering both short- and long-term care options.

The Support Team Assistance Response, or “STAR,” van is also a new mobile service option the city is offering patients instead of an ambulance or police squad car.

“We had initially a lot of surprise of, ‘Why is a van pulling up to me instead of the typical law enforcement response?’” said Chris Richardson, Associate Director of Criminal Justice Services with the Mental Health Center of Denver.

Since this mobile service launched in June, Richardson says STAR has already responded to around 1,700 calls.

Before STAR’s existence, it was firemen, EMTs or law enforcement responding to each mental health crisis. This brought its own set of fears and concerns for residents.

“There’s a lot of communities out there that have that notion that if they call 911, someone’s going to respond that they may have trauma history with or if there’s a response that they don’t want, so they just don’t call.”

Richardson says at least 30% of calls STAR has responded to were referred by police who arrived first on the scene.

When the STAR van arrives, both a paramedic and mental health clinician are on board to meet patients where they are.

“Being able to even hand someone water and say, ‘Hey, where can we get you right now that’s going to make you feel like safe?’” Richardson added.

The Behavioral Health Solution Center is offering that safe space.

“These are people that have been to jails numerous times, that have been to hospitals numerous times and that hasn’t worked for their crisis,” said Marissa VanDover, Associate Director of Crisis Services at the Mental Health Center of Denver.

Hospitals and jails are two vastly different extremes, but they’re common places where patients struggling with mental illness are often transported.

In the past two years, workers say the city’s jail had nearly half of its population on “active mental health watch” and in need of immediate mental health care in an alternative setting.

VanDover says the Behavioral Heath Solution Center now fills what’s been a gap in services.

“We have walk-in crisis centers that do a phenomenal job, but they’re timed out in 24 hours, and we know not everybody recovers in 24 hours,” said VanDover.

Since the pandemic, VanDover says, emergency calls for mental health have sky-rocketed across the country.

“We’re seeing increased levels of depression and anxiety across the board.”

This groundbreaking solution center is open around the clock and staffed by almost 60 clinicians, nurses, peer support specialists and counselors.

“We can do a cooking group. We can do an outside yoga group.”

Upon admission at the center, patients have two treatment options. From there, residents who have nowhere safe to go can then move to its transitional housing wing for an additional 30-day recovery and preparation to step back into the real world.

“To really focus on themselves, to focus on their recovery, to be able to apply for every job, every benefit they need and deserve.”

While facilities across the country do offer long-term residential care, some are difficult to access in a short period of time, especially without insurance.

VanDover is hoping this solution center be a model for other cities to follow.

“We have people tell us every day that they’ve come here and they’ve become hopeful,” said VanDover.

Sam Cary started as a freshman in one of the biggest games in Iowa women’s soccer history.

“I put a lot of that pressure on myself of I need to do this because this is the position I’m in. So that all really started building in my head, and imposter syndrome, do I really belong here? Is it really, am I really the best choice filling the role on the team? A lot of self-doubt and questioning that I really had to rumble through,” said Cary.

She was the only freshman in a playoff game starting alongside 14 seniors in the Hawkeye women’s winningest season.

“I remember the NCAA game that year. I was like, oh my gosh, if I make a mistake and we lose, I’m the reason, I’m ending these senior’s careers,” she said.

That immense pressure only increases as you progress in a sport. Olympic athletes on the world’s biggest stage are no exception.

“The elite athletes, and some at the very tip-top, have different pressures than other athletes, so it’s just when you start to add up all of the risk factors or all of the different pressures, any human can only take so much. So I think it just understands what that is, that is very different for every athlete, and every person,” said Jessica Bartley is the Director of Mental Health for the US Olympic Committee.

She has been tasked with strengthening the organizations' mental health program.

That includes a hotline, adding mental health staff, expanding education for athletes, and having on-site therapists and counselors for athletes.

“On average, we get about eight calls a week to our team USA mental health support line. We also have athletes reaching out directly. We have coaches reaching out on behalf of athletes,” said Bartley.

The mental health of athletes took center stage over the summer as female superstars Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles have notably withdrawn from competition to focus on their mental health.

People on the inside say taking a step back is an efficient way to fight the stigma associated with mental health.

"Breaking down the stigma is starting to just openly reach out for help and openly talk about what’s going on,” said Bartley.

“The fact that an Olympian, someone that people realize as the greatest of all time, can put their mental health first and really just believe that that was the best decision for her is really inspiring,” said Cary.

She hopes that by speaking openly about her journey, she can be an inspiration too.

“I love that my teammates know that I go and I work with a sports psychologist, and that’s great for me, and it’s helped me so much. I feel like if I’m an incoming freshman and I hear a junior now about, oh yeah, I use the sports psych, maybe freshmen may not be as concerned and be like, oh, it’s normal."

Studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused more people around the globe to experience depression, anxiety and substance abuse. Now, a bipartisan policy center has created a task force to look into those specific issues and is proposing solutions that can help.

“The Bipartisan Policy Center is proposing that we advance the idea of integrating primary care and behavioral health services,” said Dr. Regina Benjamin, a former surgeon with the task force.

Benjamin is a doctor in a small town near Mobile, Alabama. She says in her own practice, she spends a lot of time looking for behavioral health specialists that can take patients in need of mental health care.

Part of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s new suggestions is to expand training to primary care providers so they can handle the treatment for mild to moderate mental health and substance abuse conditions. They also suggest bringing mental health nurses or psychiatrists into the same office as primary care physicians and have mental health providers available to provide care through telehealth.

“It would be so much more helpful if we had an integrated electronic health record that integrated with the psychiatrists or psychologists. Right now, those records don't talk to each other,” Benjamin said.

The Bipartisan Policy Center report also suggests moving to “value-based” care payment structures so doctors aren’t paid just for checking blood pressure but improving it.

The Center also wants to see Medicare coverage of telehealth permanently expanded.

“In the end, basically, this integrated system will improve access to services access to care. It improves the outcomes, it decreases the health disparities, it's cost-effective, it saves the system money and, at the end of the day, it helps us become a more healthy nation.”

The report mentions several states already moving toward physical and mental health care integration, demonstrating positive results and lowering costs through Medicaid.

Nearly 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. live with mental illness, and there are a number of ways to seek treatment -- from psychiatrists, who have the ability to prescribe medication, to psychologists, therapists, and counselors.  

"There's a varying spectrum of ways that you can approach dealing with things like anxiety, depression, substance use disorders," explained Dr. Eric French, Medical Director of Adult Psychiatry at the Medical Center of Aurora. "Sometimes that involves medications if it's warranted. Some people are able to get by with just some therapy. There's cognitive behavioral therapy. There’s dialectical behavioral therapy, there’s motivational therapy, interpersonal, there are so many different types. And the reason that's encouraging for our patients out there is is that we will tailor-fit what you need to you."

Dr. Flavia DeSouza a Board-Certified Psychiatrist and Assistant Professor at Howard University explained that psychotherapy can do any number of things, including helping us regulate our emotions.

"Particular skills that are taught, it may help us to slow down our thoughts to understand what is actually going on in our minds, and how it is affecting our behavior and our feelings," Dr. DeSouza said. "It may help us to name our feelings. Many of us just go through life, without actually knowing what's going on inside of us. It may help us to learn how to change our behavior, or thinking or feeling — so that we can function in a healthier way."

Regardless of the method you start with, remember that it may take time to find the right fit or the right mental health professional. 

"You don't have to stick with this, the first therapist that you find, sometimes there's not that match," said Nii Addy, a Neuroscientist, and Host of the Yale University Podcast, Addy Hour. "So there's no there's no shame in saying, Okay, this person is not quite working for me, I'm gonna move on to the next."

A good place to start that search is findtreatment.gov or to learn more about the various types of treatment, check out the National Alliance on Mental Illness at nami.org.

Amber Strong at Newsy first reported this.