Crisis Response Team takes collaborative approach to mental health crises

The Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) team aims to help people experiencing mental health crises without resorting to force or arrests. The CARE team is a three-person model including a paramedic, clinician, and police officer. Since September 2021, the team has responded to calls about 440 times, none of which have included force or arrests.

County’s police chiefs are joining forces with local mental-health experts to devise a countywide collaboration to strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and the mental-health system by creating a four-pillar approach to crisis intervention training. Each pillar is designed to handle a different issue and build resources within the community to help those in need.

To reduce deaths caused by overdosing, Chico police have begun carrying naloxone in their squad cars to administer on site, rather than waiting for paramedics to arrive. Although not all police departments have participated in this approach, there is a growing drive to make it the standard.

Police officers paired with substance abuse counselors go onto Brattleboro's streets to offer no-strings-attached help to people using drugs. Without using arrests or other coercion, the Project CARE "recovery coaches" have connected dozens of people to rehab and other needed services since the program began in July 2018. Modeled on bigger, successful programs in Gloucester and Brockton, Massachusetts, CARE's effect on overdoses is unknown and the involvement of police is seen by some as a drawback. But the outreach has let the community know help is available for the asking – even from cops.

ERs are often ill-equipped to handle mentally ill patients and cause them more stress than they do help, furthermore, these recurring patients are costly. Mi Esperanza, a wellness center in CO, reduces unnecessary and counterproductive ER visits while providing those who are suffering a crisis a calm environment with talk therapy, and life coping strategies.

Alcoholism affects homeless people around the world, a condition that makes them physically and mentally dependent on alcohol to maintain stable functions. The Oaks shelter in Ottawa serves free daily pours to severe alcoholics in order to stabilize their physical and mental states, and to help them control the amount of alcohol they intake. These measures in Ottawa have proven cost effective, humane, and offer specialized aid to those suffering from alcoholism.

In an effort to promote health and wellness and reduce instances of officer misconduct, the Baltimore Police Departmenr launched a program in 2018 that connects officers with counseling, substance use treatment and other mental and physical health supports. Over the course of the program, more than 250 officers have signed themselves into a voluntary, confidential alcohol addiction program and been able to keep working.

Organizations like Network 180 are working to pair social workers with law enforcement to answer 911 calls to redirect those in need of care away from jail or emergency rooms, where people experiencing a mental health crisis are often sent. The group has also helped establish a peer respite center and a separate space for psychiatric patients at an area emergency room. These efforts are all done to establish a continuum of care in local behavioral health services, providing alternatives to incarceration and inpatient treatment.

The Durango Police Department and Axis Health System teamed up to form the Co-Responder Program, which provides a more nuanced response for police calls that deal with mental health, addiction, and homelessness, by sending mental health professionals along with law enforcement on calls. The program has responded to 1,419 calls since June 2021 and has been so successful that it’s expanding to other areas.

CAHOOTS offers counseling, conflict resolution, mediation and referral and transportation to social services and/or basic emergency medical care to people experiencing a mental health crisis. CAHOOTS is available 24/7 and sends out crisis workers and medics as an alternative to uniformed police officers. CAHOOTS has significantly lightened law enforcement’s load, allowing officers to focus more on other public safety issues while preventing unnecessarily sending people through the criminal justice system.