You can be a safety net for the kids and families in our community.

Washburn Acute Response Model (WARM)

Healing families after a mental-health-related E.R. visit

You gain a personal advocate after a mental health emergency

It’s an unrelenting trend: youth in mental health crisis are landing in emergency departments. If you are walking down this path with your child, you know — it’s heart wrenching. We understand.

Daily life can feel overwhelming and isolating, yet know this: you are not alone. Our staff can walk alongside you.

The WARM program is an innovative and vital service for families following an ER or clinic visit in crisis. There is hope, even when your family is navigating through an acute mental health crisis. Research shows that youth who receive therapeutic support after a mental-health-related emergency room visit are less likely to have another life threatening incident.

Connect to this innovative form of post-E.R. care

If your family needs this support after a mental health related emergency, please note that a WARM-contracted hospital system referral is required. Hospital systems in the Twin Cities currently include Allina, Children’s Minnesota and M Health Fairview.

Take the first steps toward healing

Clinicians support families in the WARM program by building upon the family’s innate strengths and resources, providing safety planning, developing strategies for increased stability, strengthening relationships and connecting families with additional services.

This unique model, pioneered by Washburn Center and Allina, puts clinicians with families in their homes for up to 5 sessions to increase stability, strengthen relationships and connect to new and customized services. Therapists offer a 24-hour on-call service and collaborate with other providers to identify needs and develop strategies for increased stability.

Services may include:

  • Crisis Stabilization therapy/support
  • Safety plan development and implementation
  • Case Management
  • Care coordination

Access One-of-a-kind Youth Emergency Mental Health


This unique model, pioneered by Washburn Center and Allina, pairs a family with a therapist who specializes in transitional support to families following doctor or hospital assessment for a child’s or teen’s mental health crisis.

The alarming rise in repeat ED visits and lack of after-care is why Washburn Center and Allina teamed up in 2018 to launch the Washburn Acute Response Model (WARM). This program, which started in one hospital in the Twin Cities, now serves more than 15 Allina hospitals and clinics as well as Children’s Minnesota and M Health Fairview’s hospital system to innovative mental health aftercare to even more families.

Ask your clinic or ER staff if they can connect you to clinicians who specialize in helping stabilize and develop a plan that is customized to your child and family’s circumstances.

Referral Information

  • Allina Hospitals and Clinics
    • Abbott NW
    • Bandana Square Clinic
    • Bloomington Clinic
    • Buffalo
    • Cambridge ED
    • Coon Rapids Clinic
    • Cottage Grove Clinic
    • Dean Lakes
    • District One
    • East Lake Street
    • Faribault
    • Forest Lake
    • Greenway
    • Hastings
    • Maplewood
    • Mercy / Unity
    • New Ulm
    • Nicollet Mall
    • Northfield
    • Owatonna
    • St. Francis
    • Ramsey Clinic
    • United
    • West Health
    • West St Paul
    • Woodbury
  • Children’s Minnesota
    • Lakeville
    • Minneapolis
    • Roseville
    • St. Paul
  • M Health Fairview
    • UMMC Masonic Hospital
    • UMMC West Bank (Riverside)