'Austin FIRST' mental health pilot program launches in downtown
Austin's mental health pilot program launches
The city of Austin is transforming how it responds to mental health crises. A first-of-its-kind pilot program is designed to reach people in crisis early, before situations escalate.
AUSTIN, Texas - The city of Austin is transforming how it responds to mental health crises.
A first-of-its-kind pilot program is designed to reach people in crisis early, before situations escalate.
Austin FIRST
The backstory:
"We’re the first entity in the United States that we know of that's bringing this team together for these high acuity incidents," said Dr. Mark Escott, City of Austin Chief Medical Officer.
The Austin Police Department, Integral Care, and Austin-Travis County EMS are teaming up to respond to high-acuity or potentially dangerous mental health calls downtown.
"These are incidents where individuals are experiencing a mental health crisis and there's some significant agitation or some concern or threat of violence. This team is able to respond to this together," said Dr. Escott.
Mental health experts to be sent to crises in Austin
The City of Austin is starting a pilot program to help respond during mental health crises.
The team called "Austin FIRST" hit the streets for a soft launch for two weeks and has already been busy.
"This team has responded to multiple individuals experiencing a crisis. Some of those individuals needed to be detained and taken for a psychiatric evaluation. There have been other circumstances where there was a combination of a psychiatric emergency plus a medical emergency," said Dr. Escott.
The six-month pilot will run Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., focusing on downtown Austin.
Dr. Mark Escott, the City of Austin’s Chief Medical Officer, says those are the peak times it sees calls for mental health crises.
He says the team is highly trained in trauma-informed care, de-escalation, emergency medical support, and cross-disciplinary response.
'Austin FIRST' pilot program to send mental health experts to crises
The City of Austin is starting a pilot program to help respond during mental health crises.
"Generally, our integral care folks and our EMS folks staging down the road from where the incident happens until APD can stabilize the scene of this team because they train together and work together, they can be on the scene and maximize that opportunity for de-escalation from the very beginning," said Dr. Escott.
Since 2019, adding mental-health experts to the city’s 911 call center has reduced emergency detentions by 58%, arrests by 62%, and officer time on scene by 66%. But officials say more help is needed for the higher acuity calls out in the field.
"With 3 different areas of expertise to bring them together in one response unit, we can hopefully create a new solution to address this complex issue," said Dr. Escott.
The pilot runs through the next six months. After that, city leaders will review what worked and what needs improvement.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Jenna King