"The city's mobile crisis team had just gotten a call about a man walking around outside without shoes. The man's family told the team he was having a mental health crisis and wouldn't come inside. This story was produced in partnership with KFF Health News. As they drove down the highway toward the outskirts of the city, team member Evan Thiessen spoke with the relative who had reached out."
"They pulled up the man's police record on a laptop and saw that he did have a record of some previous encounters with police, including some that had turned violent. Luke Forney, a licensed therapist, had that in mind as they pulled into a neighborhood of single-family homes. He stepped out of the Ford Bronco and headed toward the front door."
Bozeman's mobile crisis team responded to a barefoot man in psychiatric distress, contacting his family and reviewing his police history before approaching his home. Mobile crisis teams have grown nationally, with at least 1,800 teams by 2024, yet funding remains inconsistent and inadequate. Several Montana programs closed, leaving only six units statewide. The mobile response strategy originated in Eugene, Oregon in the late 1980s and gained national momentum over the past decade. High-profile police killings of people in psychiatric crisis have prompted calls for alternative responses. Most police officers lack training to manage delusions, hallucinations, or to de-escalate psychiatric crises.
Read at www.npr.org
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