The second time turned out to be the charm in terms of the new Greensboro mental health department.
The original attempt approved by the Greensboro City Council using an outside agency to provide mental health counselors proved to be time consuming and awkward.
City staff redesigned the program and came up with the Behavioral Health Response Team, where the mental health counselors are city employees and accompany specially trained police officers on calls. According to all accounts this program has been a major success.
At the Tuesday, Aug. 26 work session Assistant City Manager Kim Sowell introduced the report on the Behavioral Health Response Team by saying, “We are thrilled Madam Mayor and members of the council with this program.”
Behavioral Health Response Team supervisor Erin Williams presented the report to City Council that went over a lot of numbers indicating the success of the program that pairs a police officer with a mental health crisis counselor to answer calls that are determined to be mental health related.
All crisis counselors have master’s degrees and all police officers on the team have training in crisis intervention, de-escalation, integrating communications and tactics and interacting with the mentally ill.
Williams said that a part-time roster position was added in May to focus on following up on referrals and proactive follow-up for repeat callers. Williams said adding this position had been so successful that they would like to make the position full time.
Williams said that the BHRT had responded to about 2,000 calls through June 30 of this year.
The demographics of those calls were particularly interesting to City Council, with 58 percent of the calls being from black individuals and 35 percent from whites.
Also, 8 percent of the callers were identified as homeless and 78 percent as living in a private residence.
Along with increasing the outreach coordinator to full time, Williams said that going forward they would like to create a senior counselor position to supervise the second shift. Sowell said they were already in the process of creating this position.
Williams also said one of the goals was to increase the awareness of this service to the community.
Police Chief Brian James said, “This has been a great partnership.” James said that one of the successes of the program is that because of the follow up done by the BHRT team the number of repeat calls to the Police Department has dropped. He said, “I think what will happen over time is that we will see a huge reduction in calls.”
https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/727-S-E-2d-25-N-C-App-2012-COA11-944-James-v-Bledsoe-619650711
The numbers sound encouraging but could you tell me why race is included in the report?
Black or white, we all need help sometimes.
When dispatched is the Officer and Counselor told to expect a black or white person?
Just about as racist as you can get.
Yes, but they’re only dispatched using common racial slurs for each group. They also have stereotypical silhouette style stamps for each race so they can stamp their car door for each one that doesn’t end well. Unbelievable!
I had to call 911 on a houseguest who is an alcoholic, and was getting out of control. When the GPD arrived, the officers talked with to assess the situation. They also had with them, a mental health counselor, too.
I felt very relieved. Because this counselor understood exactly my concern, and spoke with me in a non-authoritative demeanor. It de-escalated the situation where my houseguest was taken to Wesley Long for review. My houseguest is now in a rehab program.
Thank you.
I can just see them in a rig like the Ghost Busters Drove.
—1. Council Likes What It Hears About “Behavioral” Health Response Team
—2. Interactions with “the” mentally ill.
You are not alone in conveying those two metaphors to the public
Illnesses are not behaviors. And “the” mentally ill is as disinformative as “the” Blacks.
It’s all well & good until one of these people on the pansy squad ends up a hostage and severely injured or killed. Then the same people who support it will wonder where the other police officers were and how could this happen. If you want a counselor, call one. 911 is not a cure all, it is for emergencies. Emergencies should be handled and ended swiftly and firmly whether that be a fire, a broken bone, or a crime. Personally, I believe the system is misused by the majority of callers. Civil matters shouldn’t involve the police anyway. They are not preschool teachers, they are crime fighters.
So people who work with mentally ill or people with substance abuse are pansys? What are you looking for here ‘Just Sayin’ cops that are trained to escalate situations so violence is used?
You have a very narrow view of policing today. Sad really.
Are people who work with mentally ill or addiction trained to deal with violent confrontations just asking because that’s what happens in most of the incidents where Police are called
I’m simply looking for people to talk to their neighbor about the dog barking next door instead of calling the police. Ask any officer and they will quickly estimate 85% of the calls they get nowadays could be solved with basic communication and common decency. At no point was the use of force or violence mentioned. I am only stating that you don’t NEED the police for the majority of the crap they get called for, society has been conditioned to call the police everytime the neighbor’s cat farts in their general direction. As for mental health, if the person is not actively destroying the neighborhood, call a counselor, not the police and expect them to have one in tow. If you do in fact NEED the police, then get outta their way and let them do whatever is necessary to quell the given situation whether that means they simply say “Hello, don’t do that please” or if that ends in a tragic loss of life, that’s just how it is. They have laws, policies and training to rely on when they are called upon. If some loon shows up on my doorstep, I’ll be kind the 1st several times I ask them to leave, but that will progressively get less cordial. I won’t call the police unless they need to bring the coroner with ’em to pick up the remains while they take a report of whatever was damaged or destroyed in the process.
You are a horse’s ass. These people have more fortitude than a keyboard warrior like yourself.