Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • In CAHOOTS in Oregon

    September 04, 2020 |

    Voices of Monterey Bay |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

    Oregon's CAHOOTS program has succeeded in replacing police on many mental-health crisis calls over its 30-year history because it is integrated in a larger system of services, including law enforcement. CAHOOTS' crisis workers, who cover the cities of Eugene and Springfield with three vans taking dozens of calls for help a day, come to their jobs with expertise as EMTs, nurses, or social workers. Then they spend 500 hours of training in crisis management and de-escalation, learning to offer help without forcing it, and without the threat of arrest except in the few cases when police backup is needed.

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  • Where Calling the Police Isn't the Only Option

    September 03, 2020 |

    Bloomberg CityLab |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States

    As the "defund-the-police" campaign sparks interest in alternatives to police-only responses to crises involving mental illness or similar problems, cities as disparate as Eugene, Oregon, and Stockholm serve as exemplars of ways to handle thousands of calls per year without involving the police. Like Eugene's CAHOOTS program, Stockholm's Psykiatrisk Akut Mobilitet (PAM) sends mental health and medical professionals to help people suffering mental crises. Now Oakland, Portland, Denver, New York, and other cities are exploring how to customize such programs to their own communities' needs.

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  • Suicide hotline offers young people hope and a chance to talk with peers

    August 31, 2020 |

    Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Phoenix, Arizona

    In Arizona, a teen-run suicide prevention hotline connects teens who need someone to talk to with a peer operator who works to listen to and calm the caller. The volunteer teenage operators don't offer medical advice but do undergo clinician-supervised training that includes active listening, collaborative problem solving and the ability to connect with callers.

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  • Community gatherings offer healing for emotional wounds after disasters

    August 25, 2020 |

    Center for Public Integrity |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Santa Rosa, California

    Wildfires cause anxiety and other mental-health problems, but Sonoma County's Latino people can get help from a convivencia: a community gathering hosted by one of the nonprofit health and community centers in the area. To connect with people who may distrust or be blocked from using government-funded mental health care, or who may distrust mental health care altogether, the support-group therapy comes in the guise of a social gathering. Some sessions may focus as well on domestic violence or other social problems.

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  • With a truce brokered over Zoom, one D.C. neighborhood goes nearly 100 days without a shooting

    August 19, 2020 |

    The Washington Post |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

    Violence interrupters conducted a dozen meetings over Zoom to negotiate a truce between two warring groups in a neighborhood that went from 11 shootings in 5 months to none for at least 99 days following the truce. To mediate the personal disputes that had led to violent clashes, those leading the negotiations, from the D.C. attorney general's Cure the Streets program, used their knowledge of the community and their credibility as streetwise actors standing apart from police to strike an agreement. Truces like this often don't last long, but this one helped amid big increases in violence citywide.

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  • Don't Call The Cops — Call CAHOOTS

    August 13, 2020 |

    Wisconsin Public Radio |

    Radio |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

    In Eugene and Springfield, highly trained, unarmed mobile crisis response teams get dispatched by their cities' public-safety 911 systems to behavioral-health crises that do not require a police response. The 24/7 service, now in its 32nd year in Eugene, saves tens of millions of dollars per year by diverting cases from the criminal justice system and emergency-room care while defusing potentially violent interactions and getting people the care they need rather than the care imposed on them.

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  • 19 Volunteers Sharing an iPhone Are Trying to Support Incarcerated People Through COVID-19 Audio icon

    August 13, 2020 |

    TalkPoverty.org |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

    Beyond These Walls launched a crisis phone line to provide emotional support for LGBTQ+ people who are incarcerated and to hold prisons and jails accountable for their virus-containment practices. Trained volunteers have fielded 369 calls so far, more than a quarter of which concern fears that reporting virus symptoms could land people in solitary confinement. Beyond These Walls and its coalition partners can provide safety by letting jailers know their practices are being monitored.

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  • A COVID ‘silver lining': You can start drug treatment over the phone — and more people are starting to

    August 10, 2020 |

    The Seattle Times |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

    Although COVID-19 has taken a toll on the healthcare industry, some providers and clinics have figured out a way to eliminate barriers during this time for those seeking treatment. According to the director of the Behavioral Health Institute at Harborview Medical Center in Washington, the healthcare industry has seen "at least five years worth of progress happen in four months" due to the implementation of telemedicine. While this isn't a longterm replacement for in-person visits, many doctors are reporting a rise in patient appointments via this system.

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  • Mental health training for cops is working in Tucson. Can we bring it to Philly?

    August 10, 2020 |

    The Philadelphia Citizen |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

    Tuscon police use a combination of training and expanded resources to resolve mental health crises by putting people in the hands of mental health professionals, an approach that in 2019 diverted nearly 4,400 cases away from arrests and jail. All police officers take a required 12-hour mental health first aid class, and most go through another 40-hour crisis intervention training. A specialized team gets more extensive training to handle court-ordered interventions, emphasizing patience and humane treatment. A 24/7 Crisis Response Center serves as an intake desk to decide what help people in crisis need.

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  • Bad Death Notifications are Affecting Families; Can They be Fixed?

    August 07, 2020 |

    The Community Voice |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Kansas City, Missouri

    The nationwide non-profit Trauma Intervention Programs Inc. uses volunteers trained in "compassionate notifications" – informing families of loved ones' deaths, a task that often is bungled by untrained, rushed first responders and hospital workers. In more than 250 communities, TIP volunteers can be dispatched simultaneously with fire and police teams. They provide counseling and assist families long after first responders have left. Advocates say their role can mend police-community relations in places like Kansas City, which lacks a formal protocol and resources for handling notifications.

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