Contact Community Services Uses ReferralQ and Provider Portal
for Mobile Crisis Services
Background
Contact Community Services Inc. is a multi-faceted organization that supports the social, emotional, behavioral and mental health of children, youth, and adults. The organization has delivered local crisis intervention support services to the Syracuse, New York region since 1971. They also act as one of the state’s 988 centers, covering a large portion of New York state, and they are the 211 contact center for the central and northern part of the state. In addition to the call center services, Contact Community Services also provides training and education to reduce stigma and empower people with information about mental health and suicide. They also offer school services such as youth development, behavior intervention, school-based mental health and substance abuse counseling, and other services to support educators, support staff, and students.
The Challenge
Contact Community Services works closely with three local Mobile Crisis Teams (MCT) that conduct visits to people in need of immediate, in-person support. In communities where this direct partnership is established, Contact Community Services phone number is listed as the place to call to receive these services. The staff and volunteers of Contact are also trained to recognize when someone could be aided by the crisis team visit, regardless of the original source or request of the contact, or the line on which they called.
Once these referrals to the Mobile Crisis Teams are made, and information about the person-in-need passed along via phone call from Contact to the MCT, Contact Community Services staff rarely learn the outcome of the visit. In fact, it was typically only when a debrief was required due to a unique situation or to discuss a problem that Contact is aware of the outcome of a Mobile Crisis visit.
Though Contact Community Services is a key player in the coordinated intake and system of care that result in someone receiving a Mobile Crisis Team visit, without outcome information they are unable to show their impact or communicate their critical role in the process. Lacking outcome data also denies them the opportunity to collaborate with the MCT to devise opportunities for Contact Community Services to play a larger role in any follow-up care or addressing clients’ social determinants of health with connections to other community-based organizations.
This also limited their ability to present compelling, data-driven outcomes to funders, hindering the organization’s ability to diversify funding streams or create sustainable, revenue-generating service models based on demonstrated impact.
Measuring the Impact
1900% Increase in outcome data collected
Previously, the Contact Community Services team would review approximately 3–4 calls per month with the mobile crisis teams and receive updates on the final outcomes during those discussions. Since implementing ReferralQ in January 2025, they have received outcome data on 410 calls. The majority of these outcomes indicate that, following connection with the Mobile Crisis team, there was an in-person response in which the individual was successfully stabilized within the community. Additionally, they received valuable insight into the frequency with which individuals were connected to higher levels of care through Mobile Crisis Outreach — such as hospitals or walk-in clinics — as well as instances where telephonic support from Mobile Crisis Outreach was sufficient, eliminating the need for an in-person response.
With this data in hand, Contact Community Services was able to not only demonstrate operational effectiveness but also support new funding proposals, secure longer-term investments, and pilot revenue-generating service models with partners who value timely, measurable impact.
Our experience with the grant initiative has been overwhelmingly positive. The application process was straightforward and accessible, which made it easy for us to apply and focus our energy on the impact we hoped to achieve.
One of the most valuable aspects of the grant was the opportunity to showcase the closed loop feature to our partners. Being able to clearly demonstrate the tangible benefits of this feature helped us make a strong case for their continued support. It provided transparency and measurable outcomes, which significantly strengthened our conversations around funding.
Overall, the grant not only supported our organization’s goals but also helped deepen our partnerships and increase our capacity to deliver results. Setting up ReferralQ was a straightforward process as well, thanks to the clear self-guided instructions available in the iCarol Help Center. To better understand the Provider Portal experience, we created a test account and staff profile, which enabled us to demonstrate the functionality of the Portal to the Mobile Crisis teams.
The implementation of ReferralQ has been smooth and efficient, and working with iCarol to address any issues that arose along the way has been a seamless process.
