Frequently Asked Questions

Community responders are a fourth type of first responder, equal to police officers, firefighters, and paramedics. They respond immediately, in person, to low-risk calls related to health and social needs, including, but not limited to, those related to mental health, drug use, homelessness, and poverty. Teams are composed of health professionals and peers with lived experience and are dispatched independently from other first responders. They aren’t dispatched to calls where violence, weapons, or serious crimes are reported.

Common call types that are dispatched to community responders are welfare checks, intoxicated persons, concerns about mental or emotional health, conflict resolution, person down, syringe disposal, and other nonviolent, non-criminal calls for assistance. Examples include situations where people in public spaces are loitering, sleeping, using drugs, or are intoxicated, verbal disagreements, shouting or other social disturbances, or other urgent but non-emergency concerns about someone’s health or well-being. Calls do not have to rise to the level of a crisis to receive a response. Most calls to community responders are non-crisis, preventive responses.

Most community responder teams employ health professionals (such as EMTs and mental health clinicians) and peers, or trained community members. Training includes crisis intervention, de-escalation, First Aid and Mental Health First Aid, harm reduction, restorative practices, cultural humility, service navigation, and extensive field training.

Community responders provide care to people in distress, which might look very different depending on the situation and the person’s needs and desires. Team members listen, provide emotional support, de-escalate tensions, and problem-solve with the person to meet their needs. They can provide immediate help for basic needs like food, water, clothing, and personal care items, and can link people with longer-term resources and supports. Many teams can transport people in need to other locations such as shelters or care facilities, with the person’s permission. The assistance that is provided is collaborative and consensual. In a very small percentage of cases (less than 5%), community responders might need to call other first responders for backup or transportation to a hospital if there is a life-threatening emergency or imminent risk of serious harm to the person or others.

No. Some police departments in Erie County have co-response teams, called Behavioral Health Teams, that dispatch mental health clinicians together with police officers to some calls. In addition, non-profit organizations such as Crisis Services, Inc., operate mobile crisis teams that send teams of two clinicians to a narrow set of mental health emergencies where there is an imminent risk of harm to the person or others.

Unlike police co-response teams, community response teams operate independently from police and very rarely involve police on calls. Unlike mobile crisis teams, community responder teams respond to a variety of non-crisis calls related to a range of issues, not only those involving a mental health crisis. In addition, community responders are multi-disciplinary and often include peers, medical professionals, community health workers, and/or trained crisis workers.

Community responders originated in Eugene, Oregon in 1989 with the Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (CAHOOTS) program, and community responder programs are often referred to as the “CAHOOTS model.” More recently, community responder teams have launched in Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Portland, Durham, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, St. Petersburg, Tulsa, Indianapolis, San Diego, and over 100 other cities and counties across the United States.

Yes. Over 100 cities now operate an alternative response program, and no deaths or serious injuries have been reported. In Oregon, the CAHOOTS program has operated for over 35 years and responds to over 20,000 calls a year with no serious injuries or deaths. In Denver, the STAR program has operated for four years without ever having to call for police backup. Here in Erie County, health professionals (such as social workers, nurses, and EMTs) and peers safely and successfully meet with community members in distress in their homes and community spaces every day. Community responder programs simply create a way to match people with the right skills to the right calls, calls that overburden traditional responders in our current system. In addition, team members go through extensive training, and calls are screened to match teams to the appropriate situations.