City of Madison unveils program that will send specialists to non-violent mental health calls instead of police

MADISON, Wis. – Starting Monday, 911 dispatchers in Dane County will have the option to send a team of trained specialists to non-violent mental health calls instead of police.

Madison’s CARES (Community Alternative Response to Emergency Situations and Services) team will feature two paramedics from Madison Fire Department, as well as two representatives from the Journey Mental Health Facility in Madison.

If a mental health crisis is determined to be non-violent, dispatchers will have the opportunity to send the CARES team. Prior to Monday, those calls have been handled primarily by the Madison Police Department.

“This has been a long, very personal and emotional project for everyone in the Madison Fire Department to get to the point where we’re here today,” said Madison Fire Department Chief Steve Davis. “As a former paramedic… there was always calls that we went on for mental and behavioral health type emergencies that fell outside of our protocols.”

“Having this resource truly allows us to offer a more appropriate response to very specific needs,” said Luis Bixler of the Dane County 911 Emergency Center.

Prior to the pandemic, Dane County received more than 7,000 calls for mental health scenarios in a year’s time. Journey Mental Health Center says they saw roughly 4200 calls to their 24-hour line in the month of July.

“We have a lot of people that we’re responding to, who are experiencing mental health crises, generating a lot of calls for police service,” said Sarah Henrickson, who serves as a clinical team manager. “This presents another alternative for when someone is in crisis and calling 911, or someone is calling 911 for someone in crisis, that we have that other resource to send. We don’t rely entirely on police to be the ones to respond to those emergencies.”

Henrickson says while Madison Police have been integral to mental health crisis response through the department’s specialized unit, oftentimes even the presence of a well-trained officer can escalate a situation.

“What an armed police officer represents to some people, and how that can escalate things or even be traumatic to some people,” Henrickson said. “Just the very idea of sending a police officer to a person who is in a mental health crisis, where there are no crimes being committed and no critical safety concerns occurring, that in and of itself, no matter how trained the police officer is, can add to the stigma around mental health.”

Henrickson and Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway both say they’d like to see the program grow.

“We’ll learn. We’ll learn from the call center data, from the experience of the folks on the van, how things are starting to change in the community,” Rhodes-Conway said. “Hopefully this is addressing not only the volume of calls, but also some of the underlying issues that result in repeat calls.”

“I think we’re quickly going to see how tip of the iceberg this team is in terms of responding to all the calls there are,” Henrickson said. “I think it’s going to result in many less people being conveyed to Emergency Rooms, or being arrested.”

lesterd88 on August 27th, 2021 at 20:01 UTC »

I’m so torn on this. Background, EMT in paramedic school.

Pros, I see so many psych calls that all they need is someone that understands that they’re struggling, and 9 times out of 10 they get two EMS providers, a local cop and county Sheriffs Deputy showing up at their door with vehicles lit up like Christmas trees. It’s intimidating and scary for them I’m certain. Those cases are absolutely perfect for this kind of setup. Especially when the providers are there as specialists and not generalists. The outcomes have to be overwhelmingly positive.

But then there’s the con side. Once you’re on scene you essentially have what you have for support. God forbid one of these calls is a trap for a provider (it sadly happens), or the situation escalates and suddenly your patient gets violent. Calling for support is good and all but they’re likely minutes away if you’re lucky. That risk to provider safety is the kind of thing that’ll keep you up at night. I’ve been lucky, beyond lucky honestly, that the most my sketchier calls have ever escalated to was needing chemical sedation and we had multiple people on scene to assist. This kind of thing happens and the escalation is so rapid. It can be one sentence they’re fine, the next they’re ready to fight and hellbent on hurting someone. Training says retreat and wait for help but time is a luxury in those situations. You just don’t always have it.

I still feel like blended response makes the most sense. Stage law enforcement a block or two away on the quiet, that way if the need for help is there they can get to them in a matter of seconds to a minute, but the patient isn’t alarmed by their presence.

Free_Charity9741 on August 27th, 2021 at 16:39 UTC »

I literally work with the exact team that's starting this in Madison!

It's great, but also unfortunate as it's a pilot program and really has to prove its own worth right now. For example, I meet with the specialist team because I work in homeless services, but will never end up using them because they're confined to a very specific police district that doesn't cover where the majority of unhoused people are staying.

I'm really, really hoping it expands in the future. It makes a world of a difference for many of my clients just to be approached by someone, anyone, not in uniform.

It's also worth saying that there are tons of social service and outreach workers who basically already do this - regardless of training. I'm hopeful that finally there will be trained progressionals who can be paid for this important work, so the brunt doesn't fall on everyone else within the system who is doing it... sometimes poorly.

canhasdiy on August 27th, 2021 at 15:03 UTC »

Denver CO is running a similar program that is showing positive results, although I'm pretty sure they send an officer with the social workers in case the situation turns violent.