The Crisis Podcast

Kris Thompson, LCSW, is the Chief Operating Officer for Lenape Valley Foundation, a behavioral health provider in Pennsylvania. I sat down with Kris to talk about his journey in crisis care, including the development of two crisis programs in the past 10 years as well as Lenape Valley's operation of 988 and mobile crisis services. Lenape Valley Foundation is opening a state-of-the-art crisis f...

Dr. Nev Jones is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh and one of the nation's leading voices on mental health systems, crisis response, psychosis, peer support, and the role of lived experience in behavioral health research and policy. With an interdisciplinary background spanning philosophy, community psychology, and medical anthropology, her wor...

Heather Honaker is a Managing Consultant with TBD Solutions and the President of the Crisis Residential Association. A native of northern Virginia, Heather has helped organizations across the country to build new and improved systems of crisis care. She is a nationally certified counselor with a penchant for effective leadership and compassionate crisis care. In this episode I sit down with heathe...

Stephen Parker is a behavioral health planner at the global architecture+engineering firm Stantec. Stephen is a proponent of “architect as advocate” for colleague, client, and community alike, and he believes strongly in leadership through service. With awards from Behavioral Health Business and FastCo, Stephen is a collaborative researcher and accomplished architect with millions of square feet o...

Elan Javanfard is a clinician with both purpose and passion, and an unrelenting advocate for humans facing mental health challenges. A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Elan is the Senior Director of Whole Person Care at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services in Los Angeles, CA. In this episode, Elan shares his experiences around working with challenging populations, bringing better ideas...

Dr. Scott Zeller is the founder of the EmPATH Unit, a psychiatric alternative to emergency departments and inpatient hospitals that empowers doctors and staff to effectively serve patients in emotional distress or crisis. Scott is one of the innovators in emergency psychiatry and has held leadership roles within the American Association of Emergency Psychiatry. Scott is a clever and gifted healer,...

Michelle Grigsby-Hackett is the executive director of Affiliated Sante Group, a behavioral health provider with locations in Maryland and North Carolina. This episode was recorded live at the National Crisis Continuum Conference in October of 2024.

Becky Stoll is the Senior Vice President of Crisis Services for Centerstone, a nonprofit health system specializing in mental health and substance use disorder services.  In this interview, Becky shares her early experiences of serving people, from the hospitality industry to hospitals and crisis services. Becky is a wealth of information, with clinical and consulting experiences that span the glo...

Wendy Martinez Farmer, LPC, MBA, is the Vice President of 988 Strategy, Grants and Clinical Standards. Wendy is a pioneering mental health advocate and has dedicated her career to breaking down barriers and fostering positive change in mental health care.  Wendy has over 25 years of experience in the public and private sectors. Wendy is is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master of Science...

Preston Looper is the founder and principal of Full Tilt Strategies, a crisis consulting organization serving clients across the country. I sat down with Preston to learn about his early days in the behavioral health system in Texas, his motivations for making the world a better place, and his intriguing findings from a recent national survey of mobile crisis teams.

Adam Graham is a licensed professional counselor, consultant, advocate, and author of the book "Turning Point: How to Make the Most of Mental Health Conversations." Adam has helped communities across the country to improve their threat assessments, develop mobile crisis teams, and assess the safety net of care. He has consulted for Google and the FBI, and he is passionate about training and helpin...

Cherene Caraco is the CEO of Promise Resource Network, a peer-run organization operating over a dozen services in North Carolina. Cherene has grown up in the behavioral health system, both as a provider and as a service recipient. As a suicide attempt survivor, Cherene leverages her experience to develop and operate trauma-informed treatment options to people experiencing emotional distress or men...

Jennifer Battle, MSW, is the Vice President of Community Access and Engagement for The Harris Center in Houston, TX, one of the 37 Local Mental Health Authorities in Texas. The Harris Center is one of the 200 crisis call centers in the country answering the 988 crisis and suicide prevention line.   Jennifer is a Mental Health First Aid, ASK about Suicide to Save a Life, and SafeTalk Trainer a...

Justin Chase is the CEO of Solari Crisis & Human Services, a national crisis call center provider based in Arizona. Over that past 7 years, Justin and his team have made amazing strides in delivering high quality support and care to those experiencing one of the worst days of their life.  Justin's journey is an incredible one--from working with people discharged from the state psychiatric...

In this episode Travis interviews crisis consultant Myranda Green. Myranda has spent much of her career working in crisis residential services as a direct support professional, case manager, and director, opening new programs across the state of Michigan and adding first-of-their-kind co-occurring services to existing programs. Myranda talks about the critical place that peer supports have in the...

Emily Blomme is the Executive Director of Foundation 2 Crisis Services in Cedar Rapids, IA. Foundation 2 operates the statewide crisis line for Iowa, as well as mobile crisis and dispatch services.  To learn more about Foundation 2 Crisis Services, visit www.foundation2.org. To learn more about he Crisis Residential Conference taking place October 12-14 in Louisville, KY, visit www.crisisresidenti...

Beverly Ryskamp is the Chief Operating Officer at Network180. During her career in public behavioral health, Beverly has led conversations around system improvements and been a contributing author to legislative advocacy. In this episode, Beverly talks about the public behavioral health system in Michigan, the story of HB5832 that authorizes Crisis Stabilization Units in Michigan, and other effort...

Hudson Harris is a mental health mastermind, suicidologist, and resiliency expert.  In this episode, Hudson teaches me new words like "ikigai" and preaches a powerful sermon on return on investment in crisis services.  To learn more about ikigai , go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai#:~:text=Ikigai%20(%E7%94%9F%E3%81%8D%E7%94%B2%E6%96%90)%20(pronounced%20%5B,one's%20ikigai%20resulting%20i...

Pete Hilen is a husband, father, licensed therapist, and crisis services advocate. Pete works for Telecare Corporation, one of the largest crisis residential providers in the country. Pete also serves on the board of the Crisis Residential Association. In this episode, Pete talks about his recovery journey, his passion for crisis services, and his admiration for the resiliency of behavioral health...

In this episode, Travis interviews Dr. Debra Pinals, a psychiatrist and leader in the behavioral health crisis world.  To read her Beyond Beds and Beyond Border papers, visit www.nasmhpd.org. 

In this episode, Travis emerges from the depths of social lockdown to provide an update on the crisis system landscape in 2020 and beyond.  For more information about the Crisis Residential Conference taking place virtually October 14th & 15th, visit www.crisisresidentialassociation.org/conference. 

In this episode, recorded at the 2019 Crisis Residential Conference, Dr. Debra Pinals presents on the importance of a behavioral health crisis continuum in effective service delivery, as well as lessons learned from other countries in mental health policy.  Dr. Debra Pinals is the medical director of behavioral health and forensic programs for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Servi...

In this episode, Travis shares a panel discussion from the 2019 Crisis Residential Conference on the use of substances like tobacco, marijuana, and controlled substances during crisis residential treatment.  Moderated by Dan Maccia (Community Research Foundation), panelists include: Dr. Scott Madover (Telecare), Myranda Green (Hope Network), Dr. Bruce Baker, and Holly McNerney (Community Rese...

Hear a quick update from Travis on The Crisis Podcast and a new offshoot podcast starting addressing COVID-19 matters.

Sergeant John Wittkowski is the Phblic Information Officer for the Grand Rapids (MI) Police Department. John talks about the evolution of empathy in law enforcement towards people with mental health and addiction issues. He shares about his police department’s journey to bringing CIT training to officers, and the mentors and community partners that have left a lasting influence on him.