Any person eighteen years of age or older may apply for admission to the Institute through a crisis team for the purpose of diagnosis, evaluation, or treatment of a mental illness. It is the policy of the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities that all applicants for admission shall be prescreened by a Community Mental Health Center Crisis Response Team. Upon a crisis response team referral, the admitting physician determines the applicant's clinical need for admission and whether or not his clinical condition is consistent with the legal standards defined in the Tennessee Code Annotated. If the applicant's psychiatric condition (diagnosis of mental illness and risk of danger to self or others) is such that treatment cannot be provided in a less restrictive community setting, then the person may be admitted.

Crisis Response Team screening for admission is through the community mental health center serving the geographical area in which the patient resides:

Metropolitan Chattanooga area south of the Tennessee River:

Fortwood Center (423-266-6751; 24-hour emergency 423-870-2651)

Hamilton County north of the Tennessee River, Grundy, Marion, Sequatchie, Bledsoe, and Rhea Counties:

Volunteer Behavioral Health (423-756-2740; crisis response 423-870-2651)

Bradley, Meigs, McMinn, Meigs, and Polk Counties:

Hiwassee Mental Health Center, Cleveland, TN (423-479-5454)

Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb, Fentress, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Smith, Van Buren, Warren and White Counties:

Plateau Mental Health Center, Cookeville, TN (931-432-4123 or 4357)

Direct admission to the Institute without prior community mental health center screening is possible under certain exceptional conditions as determined by the admitting physician and the Admissions Office professional staff as long as all legal standards prescribed in the Tennessee Code Annotated are met.