san antonio – We have been trained to always call 911 in the event of trouble, from fires to falls. But is 911 the right number to call during a mental health crisis?
“It’s evolving,” said Jaelyn LeBlanc Jamison, president and CEO of Healthcare Services Center. “We need to be in a position to meet them where they are and respond appropriately with all the tools we have.”
Currently, when dialing 911 in San Antonio, callers are presented with three options: police, fire, and EMS.
Mental health advocates said those three options may not be enough.
“There is room for growth,” said Ernest Stevens, deputy division director of the Council’s State Government Justice Center.
As San Antonio did with SA CORE, cities created crisis intervention teams to better respond to these mental health cases.
These are typically multidisciplinary programs made up of law enforcement and health officials to provide the best resources to those in need, but each program can vary from city to city.
Two program models that cities tend to choose are joint response teams or community-civilian response teams.
“They have very similar missions, but they’re structured differently,” Stevens said.
co-responder model
When SA CORE responds to mental health consultations, the team comes in groups of three.
Each unit includes a mental health officer from the San Antonio Police Department, a paramedic from the San Antonio Fire Department, and a crisis response clinician from the Medical Services Center.
The SA CORE team includes police officers who work with mental health officers, so it is considered a joint response program.
The advantages of this system are:
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Work with police officers to ensure a safe scene
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Making mental health services more accessible
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Improving public safety with direct resources
“They’re doing great,” Stevens said. “They’re all obsessed with case management.”
Having a law enforcement officer on the team also allows the unit to make emergency detentions if necessary.
At the same time, the presence of police officers on the show may be subject to criticism.
“Sometimes when a police officer shows up, it can be a barrier to communication and building trust and really trying to connect people with empathy,” Stevens said.
Community and civilian response model
The main difference between joint responders and community response teams is law enforcement officers. In the community and civilian response model, staffing is more focused on behavioral clinicians and medical professionals.
If the situation escalates, these teams will alert law enforcement.
The advantages of this system are:
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Reduce costs without having law enforcement officers on site
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Improving access to mental health treatment
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Culturally appropriate interventions
“It’s cheaper,” Stevens said. “They provide great service and alleviate a lot of the calls to 911.”
The city of Denver has a program called STAR that replicates this model.
Which model did San Antonio choose?
““I don’t want to pick winners or losers,” Jamison said. “We need a strategy that integrates all of the above.”
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to this type of crisis response. Mental health advocates agree it’s up to each city to listen to their communities and find the programs that work best.
San Antonio city leaders selected a co-responder model for the launch of SA CORE in 2022. San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the decision was made with safety in mind.
“We’re in Texas,” Nirenberg said. “There are many situations that responders can enter, such as domestic violence or a mental health crisis, which can be very dangerous and volatile environments. Let’s do things, but let’s also do common sense things.”
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said he agreed.
“Our concern was everyone’s safety,” McManus said. “We didn’t want to send people on calls where acts of violence could occur and they could get hurt.”
Retired SAPD Deputy Chief Karen Foulkes suggested that just because SA CORE is currently a joint response team, it doesn’t mean the city can’t add a community response unit in the future.
“We need to really understand it and make sure it’s safe, but I think it could happen,” Foulkes said.
As the city prioritizes programs like SA CORE, mental health advocates like NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Greater San Antonio’s Doug Beach say no model should be left unexplored. He said no.
“We can do a better job in our community, doing interviews and answering phones,” Beach said. “What we have to do is learn how to respond better and how to make better use of our resources.”
Click here for mental health resources.
“Crisis on the Edge: Measuring the Mental Health of South Texas” will air with new episodes every night at 10pm on Nightbeat starting Monday, November 11th, culminating on Friday, November 15th at 10pm. KSAT, KSAT+, KSAT YouTube Channeland KSAT.com.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health or suicidal thoughts, call 988 or text TALK to 741-741.
You can also contact the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) or the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) at 210-223-7233 (SAFE) or 800-316-9241. You can also text NAMI at 741-741.
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