Alex Leffler News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Rural communities from Iowa to South Dakota to Colorado are rethinking who they send as first responders to help those in a mental health crisis.

Crisis response teams have been slower to catch on in rural areas even though mental illness is just as prevalent as the cities.

In many places across the U.S., law enforcement is the only group to respond to mental health crisis. Now, rural mental health programs are on the rise.

Even though mental illness is just as pervasive in rural communities, crisis response teams have been slow to grow beyond cities partly due to a lack of resources. Unfortunately, there's not a simple solution.

Many cities have sent social workers, medics, outreach workers or mental health professionals to calls that previously were handled by police officers.