The Crisis Podcast

Ricky Mountsier serves as Vice President of Inpatient & Crisis Services at Oaklawn Psychiatric Center, where he provides strategic leadership for a comprehensive continuum of behavioral health crisis services, including mobile crisis response, crisis receiving and stabilization services, Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) initiatives, and inpatient psychiatric care.Following his own journey of recovery, he began his career as a peer recovery coach. Since then, he has served in progressively expanding leadership roles, helping develop innovative crisis services across St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties in northern Indiana that strengthen and improve access to compassionate and timely care.A licensed social worker and advocate for suicide prevention and crisis systems, Ricky believes the strongest behavioral health systems are built where lived experience, clinical excellence, and compassionate leadership intersect. He is passionate about creating crisis services that not only respond to people on their hardest days but also remind them that recovery, hope, and human connection are possible

Ariellah Goldbloom, LSW, NREMT, CRSS, is a connector at heart, bringing together people, systems, and the small moments that determine whether someone feels seen and supported. A crisis response leader and speaker, she builds programs and teams that show up when it matters most. As Director, Ariellah leads a Crisis Response program serving Chicago’s South Side and a Linkage team supporting high utilizers across Cook County. She is known for bringing people together, noticing what systems miss, and creating movement where others stall. Her work challenges traditional approaches to crisis care by centering real-world decision making, relational practice, and workforce readiness.A fierce advocate for her teams, Ariellah blends honesty, humor, and practical insight to push systems toward more human, effective care. She leads with warmth, humor, and high expectations, holding both people and systems to a higher standard.Links:Thresholds: www.thresholds.orgCrisisCon: www.crisiscon.org

Vanessa Pataky is the Senior Vice President of Crisis & Addiction Continuum at Aspire Indiana Health, where she oversees a comprehensive crisis continuum including crisis call center, mobile crisis, and the Rely Crisis Center. Kaitlyn Ervin is Senior Director of Crisis Services at Aspire, where she has spent more than a decade serving in roles ranging from intake clinician and therapist to clinical manager and crisis leader. Together, Vanessa and Kaitlyn have helped lead the development of Aspire’s evolving crisis system, building strong partnerships with first responders, hospitals, and community organizations along the way.In this episode, Travis sits down with Vanessa and Kaitlyn to explore what it takes to build a crisis continuum that truly meets people where they are. Kaitlyn & Vanessa share the story behind the Rely Center, the importance of listening to community partners rather than trying to displace them, and the role of trust, humility, and persistence in creating new pathways to care. They also discuss hospitality in crisis care—from good coffee and Mexican hot chocolate to the influence of Disney—along with the importance of being “the pause” in moments of crisis, embracing ambiguity, and recognizing that crisis systems are never finished.Perhaps most importantly, Vanessa and Kaitlyn offer a compelling philosophy for building better crisis care: dream big, start where you are, stay flexible, and keep learning from the people doing the work. Their approach is a reminder that meaningful system transformation is less about having all the answers and more about being willing to build something together.

Johnathan Davis is the CEO of CarePoint Response, a nonprofit organization providing crisis services in Baltimore. To learn more about CarePoint Response, visit https://carepointresponse.org/.

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 facility in July 2026, featuring adult and youth crisis stabilization and crisis residential services, as well as substance use treatment. To learn more about Lenape Valley Foundation, visit www.lenapevf.org. To learn more about the Alternative Mobile Response Association mentioned at the top of this episode, visit www.us-amsa.org. For more information about CrisisCon, visit www.CrisisCon.org.