Mental health

Mental Health Advocates, ACLU Call on DC to Add Resources For People in Crisis

"The system we have isn't working," said one ACLU member and mental health advocate.

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Mental health advocates and members of the American Civil Liberties Union gathered in D.C. on Wednesday with a simple message: the District needs to change how it responds to people in crisis.

"When you call 911 in the District of Columbia, the most likely outcome if you're calling about a mental health crisis, is that you're going to get a police officer," Michael Perloff of D.C.'s ACLU chapter said from a lectern in the Wilson building.

He wants mental health specialists -- not police -- to respond to those 911 calls for help.

"The system we have isn't working," Perloff said. "Police aren't trained for this, and honestly this is a problem that we've just dumped on their desk, like so many other areas of life."

Last year, the District joined states across the country launching the 988 crisis hotline.

People can call 988 for help in a mental health emergency, just as they would call 911 for a physical emergency, and speak with someone trained to handle mental health issues.

D.C.'s 911 call takers are being trained to divert calls for mental health related incidents to 988.

The ACLU released other recommendations it hopes D.C. leaders will embrace.

"The first is creating someone to talk to. These are crisis call centers," said Perloff. "Second is ensuring there are non-police mental health responders... And finally, we need a place to go. What we need are community-based mental health facilities where people can receive the care they need in the community where they are."

The District does have a community response team of trained mental health providers who can respond to calls for help.

"The District invested resources to nearly double the number of trained crisis counselors and the Community Response Team," the D.C. Department of Behavioral Health said in part in a statement. "The program has expanded from 12 hours a day to twenty four hours every day."

The DBH staff will soon be working at the 911 call center.

In addition, the DBH told News4 they will continue to train DC police officers in the handling of mental health crises. The Metropolitan Police Department currently has about 150 officers who are certified as crisis intervention officers, and another 800 officers who have had mental health first aid training. 

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