In rural counties where access to emergency mental health resources is limited, Virtual Crisis Care programs are giving law enforcement on-demand access to behavioral health professionals, reducing unnecessary hospitalizations or confinement in jail.

Supported by the Helmsley Charitable Trust, Virtual Crisis Care has been active in South Dakota for over five years and adopted by more than 30 rural law enforcement departments. And in 2025, Wyoming launched a Virtual Crisis Care pilot program.

Through Virtual Crisis Care, law enforcement can connect people to behavior health professionals from the telemedicine network Avel eCare for video-based assessments, intervention, and stabilization. Clinicians guide officers through complex mental health situations, minimizing the need for costly holds, transports, and hospitalizations.

Since the program was implemented in South Dakota in 2020, 86% of people encountering law enforcement through the program have been able to remain safely at home, accessing local follow-up care and successfully avoiding hospitalization or incarceration.

Roberts County, South Dakota, was one of the first communities to pilot the program, first implementing Virtual Crisis Care in the summer of 2020.

“Virtual access has been extremely beneficial in addressing rural service gaps,” said Roberts County Sheriff Tyler Appel. “In our rural communities there is just simply no possibility of getting mental health professionals on site.”

Prior to the adoption of this program, Appel said Roberts County faced very limited access to mental health professionals, especially after hours. Deputies often had to make critical decisions alone and manage lengthy hospital or evaluation transports.

The Virtual Crisis Care program gave deputies real-time clinical guidance, helping them make more informed decisions on involuntary holds and hospitalizations, leading to more tailored, long-term care and fewer individuals in crisis ending up in jail.

“Having immediate access to mental health professionals has significantly enhanced de-escalation efforts by allowing individuals in crisis to speak directly with trained clinicians,” Appel said. “This often helps lower anxiety, build rapport, and reduce the adversarial nature that can sometimes occur when law enforcement is the sole responder.”

Read the full article about the Virtual Crisis Care program by Madeline de Figueiredo at The Daily Yonder.