When Mental-Health Experts, Not Police, Are the First Responders
EUGENE, Ore.—They are the kind of calls that roll into police departments with growing regularity: a man in mental crisis; a woman hanging out near a dumpster at an upscale apartment complex; a homeless woman in distress.
In most American cities, it is police officers who respond to such calls, an approach law-enforcement experts say increases the risk of a violent encounter because they aren’t always adequately trained to deal with the mentally ill. At least one in every four people killed by police has a serious mental illness, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit based in Arlington, Va.
But in Eugene, Oregon’s third-largest city, when police receive such calls, they aren’t usually the ones who respond. Here, the first responders are typically pairs of hoodie-wearing crisis workers and medics driving white vans stocked with medical supplies, blankets and water. They work for a nonprofit program called Cahoots—which stands for Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Street—and they spent a recent November night calming tense situations, offering medical aid, and pointing people toward shelters. Launched by social activists in 1989, Cahoots handled 17% of the 96,115 calls for service made to Eugene police last year.
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In contrast to police officers who typically seek to project authority at all times, Cahoots employees dress in black sweatshirts, listen to their police radios via earbuds, and speak in calm tones with inviting body language. “I’ve learned ways to make myself smaller,” said Mr. Walker, a bearded, 6’ 2” former firefighter.
Gary Marshall, a 64-year-old who previously lived on the streets of Eugene, said the police approach was “name, serial number and up against the van.” In contrast, when he was having one of his frequent panic attacks, Cahoots counselors would bring the him inside and talk him down, he said.
When Mr. Walker and his partner Amy May, a crisis counselor, approached a man lying in the middle of the sidewalk on a busy street, they sat down on the cold cement at eye level and asked what he needed. He was thirsty and cold, so they gave him water and a tarp. They suggested places to sleep and the man moved along.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-mental-health-experts-not-police-are-the-first-responders-1543071600 (paid subscription)
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