South County Mental Health Co-Responder Program

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

This program embeds a mental health co-responder into local law enforcement agencies. The program serves individuals with MI/COD, ID and/or Autism Spectrum disorders at Intercept 1 of the Sequential Intercept Model, when law enforcement first encounters individuals exhibiting signs of mental illness. The program uses Evidence Based Practices and promising practices including: SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment), Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), and MH First Aid. The objectives of the MH Co-responder program are to connect and integrate those individuals identified as being in crisis with community based supports. This will involve the MH Co-responder assisting with locating supports and helping the Individual make appointments and transportation arrangements. The act of offering assistance fosters the individual’s ability to independently remain connected and integrated in the future. The program is also designed to reduce the number of individuals (within the target population) getting involved in the justice system. When the police are dispatched for an incident where the behavior does not escalate to the level of police officer custody, the MH Co-responder will intervene and begin the screening and risk assessment to determine level of care.