How Austin’s First-In-The-Nation “Mental Health” Option Transformed How 911 Calls Are Handled In The City.
If you call 911 in Austin, Texas, a dispatcher will ask you: “Do you need fire, EMS, police, or mental health.”
That fourth option—“mental health”—is an innovation that started in Austin; and, as far as we know, is still the only city in the country to offer it through its 911 call center. Safer Cities interviewed Kedra Priest who oversees the broader clinician-led responder program in Austin, which the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services deemed a “national role model”.
- Why offer a “mental health” option?
- First, “we put clinicians within the 911 call center, [so] we wanted to raise awareness … it’s a way to let community members know that [both] people in crisis could and community members trying to help individuals who might be experiencing a mental health crisis,” could call 911 and get an experienced mental health professional on the line [as opposed to simply receiving a law enforcement response].
- What happens when someone selects the “mental health” option?
- “When someone says ‘mental health’, [the dispatcher still performs] a screening process to ensure there’s not an immediate safety concern, [and] that police or EMS aren’t needed; and, if not, then they’re able to transfer the call to one of our crisis center clinicians.”
- “A clinician that conducts an additional screening to assess the situation; and, if necessary, to dispatch out one of one of our [mental health] crisis teams. Police typically have a lot of calls pending and some of the mental health calls are a lower priority. So, we help with both. Oftentimes, though, the clinicians are able to provide de-escalation support over the phone without needing to send a responder at all.”
- “Conversely, in situations where a dispatcher does send a police or EMS response, those officers (or medics) are able to page one of our clinicians to respond to that 911 call on scene. And then we engage with a client with the goal being to take over to assess the situation, which releases the first responders back into the community to go to their next call when it’s safe for us to remain on scene.”
- What city leaders need to know when considering implementing a “mental health” option.
- Build Consensus With All Public Safety Partners Early. “At first, I think it’s fair to say, the police were cautious about the change to 911. You know, this is their territory, and within the 911 call centers, it’s a different culture. But once we got in there, and the calls started coming in, and police leadership and officers saw what we can do [to] support public safety, then that really built the trust quickly. Then the transfers from [police officers] greatly increased. So that was successful.”
- Training And Education For Stakeholders. “It’s also important to provide training to all the call takers and stakeholders on what our team does, and also on mental health, first aid, and behavioral health issues.
One thing you hear all the time [from call takers, especially] is a concern about clinicians [being dispatched] into the community [instead of law enforcement]. Yet, we’ve been doing just that safely and effectively for years. So we don’t share that concern of course. But, it can all feel new to other stakeholders.
In addition to using training to familiarize stakeholders with the work that your team does, you’ll also want to look at your community and see which resources do you already have in place [that are trusted] so that it isn’t necessary to build trust from scratch.