Youth Rapid Response Team (YRRT)
530-440-6717
Free, suicide-focused care for youth and young
adults (ages 5–25) who live in Shasta County.
Why We Created This Program
Shasta County’s ERs are seeing hundreds of young people every year who are struggling with self-harm or suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
On average, there is at least one young person, under the age of 26, that gets put on an involuntary 72-hour hold EVERY DAY.
Like most rural communities, we lack a specially-trained workforce to meet this demand. With too little resources and options, our youth (and their parents and caregivers) rarely get the type of support that can truly help them navigate crisis situations, and prevent future crises.
Our team provides same-day services designed to increase safety, along with ongoing stabilization support, helping decrease the likelihood of future crisis situations from developing.
What You Can Expect
The YRRT provides same‑day crisis response and ongoing stabilization for adolescents, teens and young adults experiencing significant emotional or behavioral distress related to self‑harm or suicide. Our team works to help prevent crises, support youth during acute episodes, guide them safely through crises, and promote recovery afterward. Because distress often affects the whole family, we use a family‑systems approach and offers a continuum of care delivered across three stages.
Stage 1: Rapid Response
- Available 365 days a year, with same-day response.
- Access line, 530-440-6717, is open for calls and texts between 7:00 AM – 10:00 PM. Clinician responds immediately if available, otherwise ASAP.
- Messages received after 10:00 PM are responded to the following morning.
- The Lotus Center (TLC), 4352 Caterpillar Rd., offers a safe, comfortable place where help and healing can occur.
- If needed, mobile response to the ER or the young person’s school is available. Virtual appointments are offered for those who cannot meet in person.
- ANYONE can refer – the youth themselves, families, clinicians, educators, youth-serving agency staff, medical professionals, MCOT, CIRT, etc.
- As an alternative to calling 911 or going to an ER, rapid response and family-based support has been shown to be more effective at preventing repeat suicidal behavior.
Stage 2: Assessment and Safety Planning
- We use youth-focused, evidence-based screening and assessment tools, including the ASQ, the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), and the Brief Suicide Safety Assessment (BSSA) Worksheet.
- Safety planning utilizes the ASIST Safety Framework and the Stanley Brown Safety Plan, with youth-focused safety and wellness components added.
- Each youth also creates a Wellness Plan, customized to focus on what makes their life more manageable and enjoyable.
- Parents and caregivers are provided with the essential skills and tools they need to navigate crises and help keep their children safe at home.
- For many young people who can engage in collaborative safety planning, and whose caregivers can reduce access to lethal means, these approaches produce better engagement and outcomes than emergency-only responses.
Stage 3: Ongoing Stabilization Services
- No-cost services are provided for up to 3 months.
- Weekly or twice-weekly individual crisis counseling is provided by clinicians trained in suicide-focused care for youth using CAMS, CAMS-4Teens, and CAMS-BI.
- Our 9-week family group classes use the evidence-based Wellness Compass curriculum and are taught by Parent and Youth Wellness Coaches. Class times include evening & weekend options.
- Our interactive, engaging and fun youth classes focus on eight key aspects of wellness: Relationships, Emotions, Spirituality, Rest & Play, Care for the Body, Resilience, Organization, and School & Work.
- Our parent classes offer a supportive space to share experiences, strengthen parenting skills, and build connections so parents know they’re not alone.
- Individual youth and parent peer support is available throughout the program.
- We also offer fun game nights, arts and crafts, outdoor activities and other health-promoting adventures!
Our Collaborative Approach
Suicide IS NOT an individual challenge; it’s a public health concern.
Thus, preventing suicide is a shared community responsibility that requires addressing a wide range of factors—biological, psychological, social, cultural/identity, structural/systemic, educational, environmental, interpersonal, developmental, behavioral/substance-related, medical/neurological, informational/media, and more.
One agency/program cannot do it all. Our team works closely with many schools, agencies and organizations to help make necessary connections happen.
We’ll help link to services like ongoing therapy, food or housing assistance, substance-use treatment options, etc.
Meet Our Team
Marcia Ramstrom, Founder, Director, Trainer & Crisis Counselor
Marcia brings a warm, energetic commitment to supporting young people, drawing on a lifetime of personal and professional experience in mental health, substance use, and suicide awareness. Motivated to do more than improve lives — she’s determined to save them — Marcia helps youth build “lives worth living.” After losing her brother Eric to suicide in 2009, she’s learned from the experts AND people with lived experience, and since founding Lotus Educational Services in 2013 has delivered hundreds of community trainings and countless hours of crisis counseling. This innovative program, the YRRT, is her dream come true — the culmination of over 3 decades of learning how best to bring hope and healing to youth and their families here in Shasta County.
Youth Coach
Jonah Hernandez
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Parent Coach
Kasey Hathaway, BSW
Kasey is a Certified Wellness Coach II and social work graduate (B.S.W.) from Cal Poly Humboldt, currently pursuing her M.S.W. with an emphasis on Rural and Indigenous Communities. She supports youth and families through crises—mental health, suicidal ideation, self-harm, substance use, and major life transitions—using trauma-informed, strengths-based methods. Kasey focuses on connection, trust, and resilience, empowering young people and guiding parents/caregivers with practical coaching and compassionate support to strengthen communication and family wellbeing.
How to Access the YRRT
You can reach the YRRT three ways: call, text, or fill out our Google Form.
Call or text: 530-440-6717
7 AM – 10 PM:
Calls are answered immediately if a clinician is available. Otherwise, messages will be returned ASAP.
10 PM – 7 AM:
Text or leave a message. We’ll respond the next morning between 7 AM and 10 AM.
This program has been funded by the County of Shasta through the California Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA).
If the YRRT is unavailable & you are in imminent danger, call, text or chat online with 988!
