Collaborative marks Co-Responders Week in Tulsa

Family & Children’s Services^TMTM (F&CS), the Tulsa Fire Department and the Tulsa Police Department recently commemorated ‘Co-Responders Week.’ The purpose of the weeklong observance is to celebrate and highlight the work of the co-response teams set up between the three organizations.

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and the Tulsa City Council signed a proclamation on Wednesday, Sept. 20 declaring Sept. 17-23 as Mental Health Co-Responders and Crisis Mental Health Professionals Week.

The week celebrates the City of Tulsa’s growth of co-responder models which pairs a crisis-trained mental health professional with a first responder such as a policy officer, and a firefighter paramedic to respond as a team to collaboratively intervene in varying levels of 911-related mental health calls.

With the support of the Tulsa Area United Way and private funders, Tulsa’s co-responder models were first launched in 2017 with the Community Response Team (CRT). This was in response to the city was receiving 13,000 mental health-related calls each year, many of which were repeat calls and not emergencies.

The CRT is made up of a Tulsa police officer, a Tulsa Fire Department paramedic and an F&CS clinician. The CRT provides crisis response services to 911 calls with an eye toward ongoing mental health support. CRT’s approach is designed to de-escalate a crisis, reduce risk and supply safe support for the client. The collaborative currently responds to calls five days a week.

Because of the success of CRT, this year another co-response model was formed – the Alternative Response Team (ART). ART is a mobile, co-response team that includes a Family & Children’s Services^TMTM COPES (Community Outreach Psychiatric Emergency Services) clinician and a Tulsa Fire Department paramedic, supplying multiple layers of care in one response. The Tulsa Fire Department paramedic delivers a medical assessment, medical care and transition of care if needed. The COPES clinician supplies a clinical assessment and aids in supplying follow-up services. Soon the city will also have a co-response with COPES and Tulsa Police – the Integrated Response Team (IRT) which will embed mental health professionals in all Tulsa Police divisions.

Together, this model supplies the proper care and the right resources at the right time for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis or behavioral health request which results in a more comprehensive approach. The goal of this type of co-response is:

• Rapid response to mental/behavioral health crisis calls.
• Suicide prevention.
• Increase access to behavioral and social services.
• Divert individuals with mental illness from the criminal justice system and Emergency Department, when possible.
• Reduced repeated use of 9-1-1 system for non-emergent mental/behavioral/physical health issues.

The weeklong observation concluded on Friday, Sept. 22 with a community event “Coffee, Doughnuts and Conversations!” at The Gathering Place. Thanks in part to a Hardesty Family Foundation donation, a new CRT vehicle was unveiled on Friday, Sept. 22, which will help mental health professionals respond to calls faster.