Latest news with #crisisresponse
CBS News
5 days ago
- Health
- CBS News
Metropolitan Peace Initiative crisis response team helps teens manage conflict during 'trend season'
When the weather gets warm and teens gather at Chicago's beaches and downtown, it's known as "trend season," and while you might have seen the videos of these large gatherings, what you don't see are the adults woven in trying to make a difference. "We're building relations with the businesses so when the teens already get down here, we already have that established with the businesses," said Rodney Phillips, a crisis responder with Metropolitan Peace Initiative. "They already know what we're doing, why we're here." Phillips, who is also associate director of the crisis response program, is in the streets and on the ground during teen trend. While he's certainly not a teen anymore, he listens to them and tries to understand them. "It's frustrating when some of the teens are criticized, and it's frustrating when you see people, what they just see on the news, but when you're the boots on the ground and you're in the thick of it, it's a lot of layers to it," he said. The crisis responders unpack each of those layers with conversation. "Now we have a personal relationship with some of the trenders," Phillips explained. "So when you have a personal relationship, they open up a little more, and they may tell you what's going on in their personal lives; where they may say, I don't have nowhere to stay, or I'm trying to et back into school, or I have a substance abuse problem." For 18 weeks members of the crisis response team train in classrooms before they go out into the field and star talking to teens during trends. "A lot of times, like, 'Nice shoes, kid!' you know, who doesn't want to be complimented? And I think that's a good ice breaker," said Sharona Giles, director of the crisis prevention and response unit. Giles offered some insight into how their team of 25 adults makes connections in a crowd of hundreds of teens. "Body language is huge," she said. "I think that's the biggest kind of indicator, but also who's surrounded? Like, if you see somebody, and he has all the girls around him, he's probably charismatic, he's probably got some skills. He's probably someone we want to pay attention to, because he has all of these other kids around him." They build relationships and sometimes break up tense situations. "It could get scary," Philips said. "It's dark. It's 500 kids. You're breaking up, simultaneously, fights; like small brush fires, and, because of that, dangerous things can happen." After two years, they believe their work has prevented violence. "The endgame is to connect them to resources that's going to help their personal development, so we can get them the resources that they need," said Phillips. CBS News Chicago has partnered with Strides for Peace as the media sponsor for Chicago's Race Against Gun Violence in Grant Park on June 5. Click here for more information on the fundraiser, how to sign up and our coverage of participating nonprofits.
ABC News
26-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Push for police to be removed from mental health crisis responses
Lives on both sides are being lost when police respond to people experiencing mental health crises. And now there are calls for police to be removed from the response process altogether. Human rights law firm National Justice Project is leading a campaign to get the federal and state governments to back a complete health-led response. Spokeswoman Chloe Fragos says that would mean trained mental health professionals attending incidents where someone is in crisis. "What we're seeing in New South Wales is roughly 43 per cent of people who are either killed or harmed by police were experiencing a mental health crisis at the time," Ms Fragos told 7.30. "In Victoria every 10 minutes someone is in need of mental health assistance,that is then being responded to by police. "I think ultimately what we are seeking is to have policy courage in this space to really explore an alternative first responder model." South Australia's Police Commissioner Grant Stevens is the first to admit his officers aren't often best-placed to deal with someone in a mental health crisis and that alternative options are needed. "Police are not qualified as mental health clinicians," Commissioner Stevens told 7.30. "It can be the uniform, it can be if it is a high-risk response and we are attending with lights and sirens, if it's more than one patrol, all of these things can have a significant impact on the person who is experiencing that mental health episode. It's also a resource-intense response, and one Commissioner Stevens says needs to be alleviated. "It could be days that we are providing a hospital guard to ensure the safety of the person who is under observation, and the other people who are in that hospital environment as well," he said. Last year South Australia police responded to 10,852 designated mental health incidents — a 26 per cent increase over a five-year period. It took 23,666 hours to deal with those incidents — a 108 per cent increase since 2019. "You can't get away from the fact that if we are undertaking mental health taskings, we're not doing something else,Commissioner Stevens said. "And that something else may simply be proactive patrolling to prevent crime or to intervene early when we detect things that have not yet been reported to police." South Australia is among states trialling a co-responder model, where police are accompanied by experienced clinicians when attending some mental health incidents. But the National Justice Project wants police to be removed from the response altogether. "The most important thing that makes this different to the use of police is that we have no weapons, we have no use of force, and that there's a focus on keeping that person safe and also keeping anyone else that may be affected by this response safe as well," Ms Fragos said. But Commissioner Stevens said a health-led response would not be practical in all situations, such as when weapons are involved. Emergency responses are being examined as part of an inquest underway into the 2024 Bondi Junction attack. Six people were fatally stabbed by mentally ill man Joel Cauchi before he was shot and killed by a NSW Police officer. "If it was a health-led response in the Bondi Junction scenario, the very first thing they do would be call police, which is entirely appropriate," Commissioner Stevens said. Commissioner Stevens knows how dangerous mental health incidents can be for his officers. In 2023 Brevet Sergeant Jason Doig was the first South Australian police officer to be killed in the line of duty in more than 20 years. He was involved in a shootout with a man who had undiagnosed schizophrenia. "You don't know what's going to happen when you walk through a door," Commissioner Stevens said. "You don't know what is going to happen when you confront an agitated person." "There are, sadly, too many examples of police officers who have been injured or fatally wounded as a result of doing their job and responding to those types of incidents. "People are still mourning the loss of Jason. He was a good bloke." Brevet Sergeant Doig and two colleagues were called to an isolated property near the South Australia-Victoria border. They had been tasked to respond following a concerned phone call that a dog had been shot. While searching the property, 26-year-old Jaydn Stimson appeared with a firearm and started shooting. Brevet Sergeant Doig died at the scene. His brother Brett told 7.30 his family remains heartbroken. "We still have our past, we still have our memories [but] what we don't have now is the future," Brett Doig said. Stimson was initially charged with Brevet Sergeant Doig's murder but last month was found not guilty, due to mental incompetence. "I think we were prepared for that because I'd been warned, many, many, many months ago that that's probably the way it was going to go," Mr Doig said. Mr Doig said he supported alternative responder options being explored to better protect police. In July he will deliver his victim impact statement to South Australia's Supreme Court. "Jason was an adventurer," he said. "He was definitely a great officer. "Whether he's serving you a fine or you know, taking you back to the station in the van, he was still fair about it. "The legacy, he's already got it, because he's been remembered." The NSW government has said it is examining alternative responses but that police will always attend incidents where weapons are involved. Victoria Police said it supported the introduction of a health-led response to emergency mental health crises and would continue to work towards reducing involvement from police. Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV Do you know more about this story? Get in touch with 7.30 here.
New York Times
23-05-2025
- Health
- New York Times
New York City's Mental Health Crisis Response Falls Short, Audit Finds
More than a third of 911 calls in New York City about people in emotional distress that were eligible for a response from mental health workers did not receive one, a new audit by the city comptroller's office found. The program that sends the mental health workers, called the Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division, or B-Heard, began as a pilot in 2021 and does not cover the entire city. It dispatches teams of emergency medical workers and mental health professionals to assist people in crisis instead of police officers, who advocates say lack proper training and can escalate situations. But often, B-Heard teams do not arrive at all, and police officers do instead, the audit found. Between 2022 and 2024, the teams did not respond to more than 13,000 calls that met the program's criteria. That's about 35 percent of all eligible calls, according to the audit. 'Thousands of people and their loved ones call 911 for mental health emergencies, because our current system has no better way of handling these crises,' Brad Lander, the comptroller, said in a statement announcing the audit. 'But despite B-Heard's good intentions, thousands of these calls go unanswered or met with only a police response woefully unequipped to handle a medical episode,' said Mr. Lander, who is also a Democratic candidate for mayor. The city started B-Heard to test alternatives to having the police respond to mental health calls. Such encounters can have tragic outcomes, as in the case of Win Rozario, a 19-year-old in distress whom officers shot and killed in his Queens apartment last year after he called 911 seeking help. 'People in mental health crisis don't need a criminal response to what they're going through,' said Jumaane Williams, the city's public advocate. 'And the question is, well, how do we create an infrastructure that provides what they need?' Mr. Williams said B-Heard had languished because of underinvestment from city leaders. The program covers only some of the city, including parts of Manhattan, the Bronx, southern Brooklyn and western Queens. Response teams are available in those areas seven days a week, but only between 9 a.m. and 1 a.m. In a letter responding to the audit, Eva Wong, the executive director of the Mayor's Office of Community Mental Health, emphasized that B-Heard was a pilot program that exists within New York City's sprawling, complex emergency response system. 'The report's implication that any mental health call not responded to by B-Heard constitutes a failure is not only misleading but also overlooks the operational realities of this complex pilot program,' Ms. Wong wrote. From January 2022 through September 2024, the city received nearly 96,300 mental-health-related calls from areas inside the program's boundaries and during its hours of operation, according to the audit. More than 60 percent of those calls were deemed ineligible for response from a B-Heard team, it said, which can happen for a range of reasons, including because the situation was potentially dangerous, because a mental health professional was already on the scene or because dispatchers were not able to collect enough information about the situation to respond properly. Another 14,200 calls came during unstaffed hours, the audit found. Ms. Wong said that B-Heard teams were 'strategically deployed' only in certain circumstances where they could be most helpful. Patients who would be ineligible for a B-Heard response, she said, include a person who is immediately suicidal or who requires immediate hospitalization. The program has faced funding cuts and staffing problems for years. Among its most pressing challenges are hiring enough emergency medical workers and social workers to fully staff its teams, Mr. Williams told a City Council committee earlier this year. In March, there were a total of 18 B-Heard teams split between two daily shifts, which the audit said appeared to be an 'insufficient' amount to respond to all eligible calls. It is unclear what it would take for the teams to respond to a larger share of eligible calls, the audit found, because Office of Community Mental Health officials do not thoroughly track why calls go unanswered. The agency told the comptroller's office that it regularly evaluated the program's staffing needs, but it could not say how much additional staffing or funding it would require to broaden the response. When a B-Heard team arrives at the scene of a person in distress, workers are supposed to conduct mental and physical health assessments. They can also connect the person with medical care and mental health providers. In the 2024 fiscal year, according to the audit, teams filed mental health assessments for only a quarter of the calls they responded to. The percentage of calls that resulted in an assessment has decreased each year since the program's creation, it found, though the total number of assessments rose. In the 2022 fiscal year, 55 percent of all answered calls were followed by assessments; the next year, that percentage dropped to 31 percent. Auditors found that there was no clear reason the rate of assessments had declined. Agency officials said that sometimes patients refuse help or leave before the teams can assess them. City officials highlighted areas where the program has been successful. One of B-Heard's focuses is decreasing the number of patients transported to hospitals unnecessarily. Since the program began, more than 3,300 people assessed by B-Heard teams avoided an unnecessary trip to the hospital, according to the mayor's office. William Fowler, a spokesman for City Hall, said in a statement that the audit blamed B-Heard for deeper challenges faced by New York City's 911 system. Calls to 911 about life-threatening emergencies have risen in recent years, as have average response times. 'B-Heard has successfully responded to more than 24,000 mental health 911 calls with a mental health professional, when it is both safe and appropriate to do so, in a vast emergency dispatch system managing thousands of life-threatening emergencies each day,' Mr. Fowler said. Mental health advocates are urging the city to allocate an additional $4.5 million to B-Heard to help close gaps in the program's coverage and ensure that its teams are fully staffed, a proposal Mr. Lander's office endorsed. B-Heard and other citywide mental health programs have become talking points in the city's mayoral race, and several of Mr. Lander's fellow candidates have also endorsed programs like B-Heard to respond to mental health calls. Maggie G. Mortali, the chief executive of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of New York City, said that additional funding for B-Heard was not a 'wish-list item' but rather a necessity to ensure the program's viability. Without it, she said, more mental-health-related 911 calls will be answered by police officers. 'The mental health crisis is a public health issue,' she said. 'Because of that, it really demands a public health response.'
CBS News
21-05-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Denver police officers honored for handling of mental health crisis calls
Some officers in the Denver Police Department were honored for the way they handled a response call to a mental health crisis. Ten officers in total, and one co-responding clinician, were recognized on Tuesday by The National Alliance on Mental Illness. One of those officers said it's a reminder that there is more to police work than making arrests. Some Denver police officers were honored for they way they handled mental health crisis calls. CBS "Then there are situations like this where someone at the worst of their life, ready to end their life, so to be in that position and help her feels very, very good," said Denver Police Officer Michael Morelock. In each of the examples recognized, officers were able to get the person mental health help as well.
Zawya
19-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
International SOS reopens enhanced Dubai Assistance Centre amid rising regional risk demands
Dubai – As organisations across the Middle East and Africa face growing complexities in health, security, and operational risk, International SOS - the global leader in health and security risk management—has announced the reopening of its upgraded Dubai Assistance Centre. The relaunch marks a significant milestone, coinciding with the Group's 40th anniversary, and underscores its four-decade legacy of safeguarding workforce wellbeing and delivering critical support during times of crisis. Serving as a command hub for a vast and volatile geographical region - including the Gulf, Levant, Central Asia, North Africa, and parts of Eastern and Southern Africa, the Dubai Assistance Centre monitors and assesses situations inmore extreme and high-risk countries than any other in International SOS's global network of 28 Assistance Centres. International SOS has a multilingual team capable of communicating in over 110 languages and dialects worldwide, with 24 spoken at its Dubai Assistance Centre alone. It now includes a dedicated Telehealth Suite that showcases International SOS's remote site telemedicine capabilities, demonstrating how cutting-edge healthcare delivery can reach even the most isolated locations. The renovation was guided by key operational goals such as to modernise the facility, enhance collaboration among multidisciplinary teams, and offer a state-of-the-art environment for providing the best services to organisations. It now includes a dedicated Telehealth Suite that showcases International SOS's remote site telemedicine capabilities demonstrating how cutting-edge healthcare delivery can reach even the most isolated locations. 'The enhancement of our Dubai Assistance Centre is a strategic investment in our ability to better serve organisations in one of the most dynamic regions of the world.,' said Sebastien Bedu, General Manager - Middle East, International SOS. 'This centre is the operational backbone for hundreds of organisations who rely on us for rapid crisis response, health and security insights, and the tools they need to protect their workforce and operations.' Over the past year alone, , the Assistance Centres around the world have managed more than 300,000 cases, offering 24/7 support in medical and security emergencies, real-time information and analysis, consulting services, and tailored training. Its critical role in safeguarding employees and operations makes it a lifeline for companies prioritising Duty of Care, business continuity, and talent retention in unpredictable environments. Another significant enhancement for the centre is the integration of real-time risk intelligence through a strategic alliance with Ontic, a leading provider of Connected Intelligence software for threat management. This collaboration will integrate Ontic's advanced security technology with the global assistance capabilities, intelligence network, and decades of travel risk expertise of International SOS. The partnership aims to deliver unified solutions that empower security professionals to proactively manage threats, activate crisis response, and ensure the safety of their workforce worldwide reinforcing the Centre's position as an essential business resilience asset. Operational resilience as a focus is underpinned by robust mitigation and response to health, wellbeing and security risks. The enhancement of the Dubai Assistance Centre serves as a reminder of how vital reliable infrastructure and intelligence are to businesses today - particularly in regions where crises are not a question of if, but when. About the International SOS Group of Companies; 40 years of saving lives The International SOS Group of Companies is in the business of saving lives and protecting your global workforce from health and security threats. Wherever you are, we deliver customised health, security risk management and wellbeing solutions to fuel your growth and productivity. In the event of extreme weather, an epidemic or a security incident, we provide an immediate response providing peace of mind. Our innovative technology and medical and security expertise focus on prevention, offering real-time, actionable insights and on-the-ground quality delivery. We help protect your people, and your organisation's reputation, as well as support your compliance reporting needs. By partnering with us, organisations can fulfil their Duty of Care responsibilities, while empowering business resilience, continuity, and sustainability. Founded in 1985, the International SOS Group has been saving lives for 40 years. Headquartered in London & Singapore, it is trusted by over 9,000 organisations. This includes the majority of the Fortune Global 500, a. As well as mid-size enterprises, governments, educational institutions, and NGOs. Nearly 12,000 multi-cultural security, medical, logistics and digital experts stand with you to provide support & assistance from over 1,200 locations in 90 countries, 24/7, 365 days. Between them, International SOS employees speak nearly 100 languages and dialects in our Assistance Centres, Clinics, and offices. To protect your workforce, we are at your fingertips;
