I am so heartened and excited by two new programs available to Oakland, especially as most of the students, families and schools that I work with (and I myself) reside in Oakland.
One service by Alameda County’s Behavioral Health offices called CATT is a 2-person team, consisting of a licensed behavioral health clinician and an EMT who can be dispatched from 911, to answer calls that may benefit from assessment for services that include psychiatric settings but other community resources like housing shelters and substance use interventions too. This service also strives to circumvent the use of police for mental health assessments, and the use of costly ambulance rides.
Another service is the MH First Oakland, a project from a regional organization called the Anti-Terror Police Project. This is a community volunteer phone service that strives to “interrupt and eliminate the need for law enforcement in mental health crisis first response by providing mobile peer support, de-escalation assistance, and non-punitive and life-affirming interventions, therefore decriminalizing emotional and psychological crises and decreasing the stigma around mental health, substance use, and domestic violence, while also addressing their root causes: white supremacy, capitalism, and colonialism.”
Both CATT and MH First Oakland are new programs that have launched in the past few weeks. They have limited hours and are beginning to build up their staffing. They both note that they will call for law enforcement under certain circumstances, so they do not eliminate police presence during a crisis.
Even so, both these programs show growth towards creating structures to address the injustices in relying on law enforcement for mental health care. The ongoing highlight of the abuses of power in law enforcement continually compels me to critically address the need for our clients and families to have alternate ways of dealing with a mental health crisis outside of calling 911. It is not enough for clients to hope for a responder who can manage the least amount of harm in a critical situation, all the while running the risk of – like the many instances of the past few years have shown – an unjust death of a vulnerable person. This rubs against the training I have received that we ask clients and supports to call 911 when “in crisis.” Asking clients and families to call 911 covers my liability in addressing risk and aligns with the standard of care that may be expected in the field.
Even so, both these programs show growth towards creating structures to address the injustices in relying on law enforcement for mental health care. The ongoing highlight of the abuses of power in law enforcement continually compels me to critically address the need for our clients and families to have alternate ways of dealing with a mental health crisis outside of calling 911. It is not enough for clients to hope for a responder who can manage the least amount of harm in a critical situation, all the while running the risk of – like the many instances of the past few years have shown – an unjust death of a vulnerable person. This rubs against the training I have received that we ask clients and supports to call 911 when “in crisis.” Asking clients and families to call 911 covers my liability in addressing risk and aligns with the standard of care that may be expected in the field.
Under that tension, I must give clients and their supporters more resources like CATT and MH First Oakland; practice calling 911 to request an officer with mental health responder training; have safety plans that include assessing whether a client or guardian would prefer to voluntarily go to a crisis stabilization program like Willow Rock or Children’s Hospital for assessment and help; and explore more hearty early interventions and natural community supports for clients and families. Giving clients and families more options to choose from can validate lived experiences of threat from powerful, privileged arms of our society. I am grateful to have the folks at CATT and MH First Oakland launch these new approaches for our clients and families. I am looking forward to seeing how these public services can improve the standard of care in our field.
Blog Post Written By: Julie Kim, Assistant Director (SOAPS)
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