Assistance
Civil commitment and alternatives
If you’re worried about someone’s mental health, you may be seeking help for them.
We offer voluntary services to help people improve their mental health and work toward recovery.
State law also guides our role in the civil commitment process, when involuntary services are being considered.
Voluntary services
Engagement services
Our engagement services help people take steps toward their goals. This service is appropriate if you can tell your loved one isn’t doing well, but you aren’t sure if they’d seek help on their own.
We focus on:
- Reaching out. People facing mental health challenges can be hard to reach. We try multiple times, in different ways, over 60 to 90 days.
- Identifying goals. When we reach them, we’ll help them choose initial goals they’d like to work toward.
Other than needing to be 18 or older, there are no other eligibility criteria for engagement services. We can start right away and then work on next steps and eligibility for longer-term services.
If we can’t reach your loved one, we’ll let you know and talk through what you can do next.
Contact engagement services
Case management
The Community Alternative Response Team (CART) is a voluntary, intensive case management service for people with diagnosed mental health conditions.
This service is appropriate for people diverted from civil commitment or others whose mental health symptoms are getting worse and who want to participate in services.
People work with CART for about six to nine months, supported by a team that meets with them multiple times each week.
Our goal is to help people stabilize their mental health and address related needs: housing, waivers and benefits, employment, transportation, and other basic needs.
Contact CART
Involuntary services - Civil commitment
If a person’s condition becomes so serious that they may harm themselves or others, civil commitment may be considered. This process usually begins in a hospital.
Prepetition screening
Hennepin County is responsible for completing a prepetition screening during the civil commitment process. This screening helps determine if a person meets the legal criteria for involuntary civil commitment.
Guided by state law, the county’s prepetition screening team provides an impartial and in-depth clinical assessment. This team includes clinical social workers, clinical psychologists, and registered nurses.
Contact the prepetition screening pogram
- pspintake@hennepin.us
- 612-348-2787