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‘I'm Stronger Now:' Support Centers For Trauma Survivors Expanding In Illinois

Patrick Smith

February 08, 2021 |

WBEZ |

Radio |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Illinois

Since 2017, two publicly funded trauma recovery centers in Illinois have helped violent-crime survivors cope with the emotional fallout that can accompany a loved one's murder or surviving their own violent attack. Case managers help people get group and individual therapy. They can also line up financial aid to help people pay for food and rent, when their trauma interferes with their ability to make a living. The centers, based on a model developed in California as a way to foster public safety through healing communities, will expand by three more in the state in 2021.

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Denver successfully sent mental health professionals, not police, to hundreds of calls

Grace Hauck

February 06, 2021 |

USA Today |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

In its first six months, Denver's STAR program (Support Team Assistance Response) handled 748 emergency calls that in the past would have gone to the police or firefighters. Two-person teams of a medic and clinician helped people with personal crises related mainly to homelessness and mental illness. None of the calls required police involvement and no one was arrested. The city plans to spend more to expand the program, which is meant to prevent needless violence and incarceration from calls to the police that other types of first-responders can better address.

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Health care workers replaced Denver cops in handling hundreds of mental health and substance abuse cases — and officials say it saved lives

Li Cohen

February 06, 2021 |

CBS News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

Denver's STAR program (Support Team Assisted Response) replaced police officers with health professionals on 748 calls for help. In incidents involving mental health, homelessness, and substance abuse, police backup was never needed, no one was arrested, and minor crises did not risk escalating into violence because of police presence. The six-month pilot project will expand to more parts of the city and more hours of the week, with an infusion of city money to supplement the private funding that got the program started.

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After Capitol riot, desperate families turn to groups that ‘deprogram' extremists

Paulina Villegas Hannah Knowles

February 05, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Groups like Parents for Peace and Life After Hate use former radicals to counsel people in the grip of right-wing extremism. Bombarded by pleas for help by families since the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, these groups use a series of meetings to help people examine the roots of their ideology, with an aim of helping them discover for themselves the irrationality of their hatred and other beliefs. While one researcher says the methods show signs of effectiveness, success is defined mainly in individual stories of change, in a hard-to-measure process of "personal and idiosyncratic" introspection.

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In the first six months of health care professionals replacing police officers, no one they encountered was arrested

David Sachs

February 02, 2021 |

Denverite |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

Denver's STAR (Support Team Assisted Response) program deliberately reduces potentially violent encounters between uniformed police officers and troubled people by responding to certain low-level crises with a mental health clinician and a medic. In STAR's first six months, the team offered 748 people help rather than jail, without requiring any arrests to resolve problems. With more resources, the team could have handled more than 2,500 incidents. The police chief supports the program's expansion, saying it frees his officers to handle more serious matters.

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Georgia's Mental Health Champions

Tina (Tiko) Tsomaia Ia Shalamberidze

February 02, 2021 |

Transitions Online |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Georgia

Across Georgia, a community-based mental health care approach has decreased both the duration and frequency of hospitalization for clients. This approach relies on mental health and other healthcare specialists delivering care to clients via mobile teams.

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As Port Angeles reopens its schools, students readjust to routine

Dahlia Bazzaz

February 01, 2021 |

The Seattle Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Port Angeles, Washington

A school in the city of Port Angeles has been reopened since October 2020, it offers valuable pandemic lessons for other schools that are in the process of reopening. Aside from logistical things like temperature checks, there are other things teachers are looking out for in classroom: mental health, energy levels, and teaching kids how to learn again. “Right now, my priority is less about content, and more about executive functioning — reteaching students how to learn."

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The "Secret Handshake"—A Program Gifting Cannabis to Unhoused People

Doug Johnson

February 01, 2021 |

Filter |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

In Los Angeles, the Sidewalk Project gives unhoused people gifts of marijuana to ease their anxiety and to show kindness. Since its start in the spring of 2020, the group has gifted gram-sized portions of weed nearly 1,000 times. The harm-reduction group gets its supply from growers who donate weed that isn't up to commercial-grade snuff. Evidence is mixed on whether marijuana is an effective antidote to opioid withdrawal symptoms, but Sidewalk says it has helped some by making them more relaxed. Personal use of marijuana is legal in California, with restrictions on quantities that can be transferred.

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Next Step goes to the front lines of gun violence in Minneapolis, starting with the shooting victims

Maya Rao

January 30, 2021 |

Minnesota Star Tribune |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Next Step is a hospital-based violence intervention program based at Minneapolis' Hennepin County Medical Center that counsels gunshot victims to try to help lower the chances that they will be harmed again or seek to harm others. Focusing on young adults and their families, the program starts its work when a victim is hospitalized. The counseling and connections to support services can continue for months and even years.

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Cops, crisis calls and conflict over who should help

David Kroman Sara Bernard

January 28, 2021 |

Crosscut |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Seattle Police Department's crisis response team answers some of the city's many 911 calls for people in distress, pairing police trained in handling such calls with mental health professionals. The aim is to counter the default policing approach to problems that usually involve mental illness or substance abuse, which is to control people. It doesn't always work, due to the complexity of the calls, the nature of policing, and the department's limited resources devoted to the program. But, when it works, it can help rather than escalate situations, and avoid the ultimate failure, the use of excessive force.

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