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 Bruce Bartz, Erica McCall and Klye King, Past President To view meeting: https://youtu.be/5GawOaRL26s March 28, 2023. Bruce Bartz, Coordinator of Co-responders, and Erica McCall, Mental Health worker, explained York County's new "co-responder" model that makes mental health professionals available to respond to calls involving someone experiencing a mental health crisis. A police officer will handoff a mentally ill individual to the co-responder, who then discusses treatment options with the person. The program is collaboration between county law enforcement, the county's probation department, the county's mental health-intellectual and Well Span Phil haven. A co-responder's job is to determine what level of care a person needs and assist them and their families by connecting them to community treatment resources. "We expect the number of persons provided community resources to increase, and the number of individuals entering the criminal justice system with serious mental illness to decrease," Bruce said. York County previously established a number of diversionary courts — including mental health and drug courts — which also aim to keep people out of the criminal justice system. Erica McCall is York County’s first such employee. The Well Span Health crisis intervention counselor has been working with Springettsbury and Spring Garden police departments. Erica is not a police officer. She doesn’t wear a uniform and doesn’t carry a firearm. She said police make sure the scene is safe before she is called in. By the time she arrives, an officer has explained who she is to the person in need of services. This helps to de-escalate the situation for people who need help and aren’t an immediate threat to others, Erica said. Many of her calls involve teens dealing with mental health issues, she said. Without her, police might arrest that teen or take them to the emergency room, depending on the situation. “But this way, using me to come out, I can help connect the individual to services, keep them from possibly calling 911 again, and get them what they need, whether it’s mental health or substance abuse treatment,” Erica said. Erica is also able to follow up with people for days or weeks afterward, something police typically aren’t able to do. About 65% of the roughly 9,000 crimes that happen each year in York County involve people with behavioral health or addiction issues. Those people often benefit more from treatment than incarceration. The benefits to society of decreasing crime on the front end is just overwhelming. |