Police departments bring mental health professionals to help respond to crisis calls

 

INSIDE: Police departments bring mental health professionals to help respond to crisis calls; how one county screens and connects people in jail to housing; & upcoming events.     November 16, 2022 | Edited by Brenna Callahan

WHAT WE'RE READING    Police Departments Bring Mental Health Professionals to Help Respond to Crisis Calls   Megan Quattlebaum, director of the CSG Justice Center, recently weighed in on an WSB-TV story about the rise of community responder programs as an alternative to traditional law enforcement responses. “I would say there’s been almost an explosion of interest in other models for responding to people in behavioral health crisis,” she said. The CSG Justice Center surveyed 70 police departments across the country and found that 76 percent of them use a program similar to the one WSB-TV profiled in Alexandria, Virginia, where police say that of the calls that could have resulted in an arrest, 71 percent were resolved without anyone going to jail since the program started last year. Read the article > P.S. Learn more about community responder models by checking out the CSG Justice Center’s Expanding First Response toolkit and attending our event today at noon ET.    🎥 IN THEIR OWN WORDS    How One County Screens and Connects People in Jail to Housing   Officials in Salt Lake County, Utah, developed a public dashboard to help identify and connect individuals in the county jail with housing and services. This collaboration occurs across county agencies, the jail, and community-based providers. In this video, learn about some of the ways that the dashboard helps officials connect people to permanent housing options. Watch the video >    UPCOMING EVENTS    Expanding First Response Assessment Tool Launch This webinar will launch the Expanding First Response Assessment Tool, an online, interactive tool that will provide tailored, step-by-step guidance for communities to plan and implement a new community responder program. Join us and learn about how jurisdictions across the U.S. are reimagining their approach to public safety by investing in community responder programs. Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2022 Time: 12:00–1:30 p.m. ET Register >   Addressing Concerns and Responding to Myths About Safety during Crisis Calls This webinar will highlight the challenges and benefits of creating a cross-system collaboration between partners including law enforcement, behavioral health, and EMS. Join us and learn from national experts about best practices for responding to calls for services with people experiencing a behavioral health crisis.  Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2022 Time: 2:00–3:30 p.m. ET Register >   Photo credit: querbeet via Canva