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ECSO Expanding Mental Health Co-Responder Unit Program Using State Grant
October 5, 2023
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is set to expand their Mental Health Co-Responder Unit.
The unit was formed in October 2022, and now the department has received the first $100,000 of a $549,245 state grant for the expansion.
Since August of 2022, the mental health unit has provided internal services to members of the ECSO. The unit has already provided approximately 135 sessions to members of the agency, and they look to stand up the external co-response portion in January.
The unit will work alongside mental health professionals for mental health-related calls and will provide immediate care and resources for community members in their time of need. Not only will the unit provide a co-response to mental health calls for service, but it will also provide mental health-related services within the agency.
The program is one of only two in the state to combine sworn law enforcement deputies with mental health clinicians.
The ECSO will utilize two career law enforcement officers who hold master’s degrees in mental health counseling for this program. In addition to these sworn law enforcement officers, the ECSO plans to field three units, each consisting of a sworn deputy and a mental health clinician, to respond to calls involving mental health complaints. This unit will be both proactive and reactive.
“We have been working on this program for a couple of years now and we’ve already seen the benefits of the internal portion. Now we are at a point where we can move forward with the external portion of this program,” Sheriff Chip Simmons said. “Mental health is becoming more and more important when providing law enforcement services. Our unique co-responder unit allows us to provide services to our employees, as well as free patrol deputies to answer other calls for service. This is a huge step in the right direction, and we are hopeful that we can continue to build on this model. We are being progressive about changing the cultural viewpoints and perspectives of law enforcement regarding mental health response.”
“Co-responder units are the gold standard for providing street-level mental health services in our community,” said Davis Josephs, clinical director at Lakeview Center. “I appreciate the opportunity to partner with Sheriff Simmons on this initiative.”
Comments
One Response to “ECSO Expanding Mental Health Co-Responder Unit Program Using State Grant”
Thank you for reporting on this. It’s the type of thing that doesn’t draw a lot of public attention even when it gets coverage, but this initiative is huge, and the type of approach is what has been needed for *such* a long time.
Hats off to Sheriff Simmons for being one of two agencies in the state to get this rolling. It’s also a chance for Lakeview to finally have some material impact out in the field.
Fingers crossed hard this pays a tons of dividends to the community and to people in crisis who need mental health support. Our law enforcement has been put in the place of front-line mental health scenarios for far too long, with few tools other than Baker Acting. This could really be a game changer.