48: Cops, Clinicians, or Both? Collaborative Approaches to Responding to Behavioral Health Emergencies

Margaret E. Balfour, M.D., Ph.D., and Jason Winsky, B.A., join Dr. Dixon and Dr. Berezin to discuss their special article published in Psychiatric Services, “Cops, Clinicians, or Both? Collaborative Approaches to Responding to Behavioral Health Emergencies,” looking at collaborations between police and clinicians in the treatment of mental health and behavioral health emergencies.  Dr. Balfour is Chief of Quality & Clinical Innovation at Connections Health Solutions in Tucson, Arizona, and Sgt. Winsky is a police officer and supervisor of the Mental Health Investigative Support Team with the Tucson Police Department.

• Balfour and Winsky interview [00:32]
• How did you get started in this work? [01:22]
• Police department mental health team [02:44]
• Crisis Response Center [03:04]
• Why Arizona? [03:58]
• Arnold vs Sarn [04:54]
• Twenty-three hour observation model [05:35]
• Funding [06:20]
• How the crisis system works in Tucson [07:44]
• Easy access for law enforcement [10:11]
• Crisis management from the law enforcement perspective [10:39]
• Police training in dealing with mental health crisis [12:41]
• Who the police bring to the crisis center [14:59]
• Challenges in providing mental health services for intoxicated and violent patients [16:21]
• Keeping patients out of the justice system when possible [17:31]
• “No Wrong Door” policy [18:47]
• How this works in practice: the lady with the car [21:05]
• Creating the opportunity for creative solutions to removing barriers to mental health care [23:56]
• “There can’t be a rule for everything in crisis” [24:44]
• Social justice framing of the paper [26:49]
• The Technical Assistance Coalition working papers series [29:24]
• What would you add to enhance the program? Housing, housing, housing [30:07]
• Collaboration between siloed systems [32:01]
• Working with stakeholders [32:59]
• The impact of mental health crisis on people of color [34:41]
• Other places doing great work [37:13]

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