Stretching to Cover the Gaps

Lane County hopes to launch a 24-hour mobile crisis response team on April 1 that will deliver mental health services from the coast to the foot of the Cascades — if the county can find enough qualified people to make it work.

The new Mobile Crisis Response Team, based on a nationwide model similar to  Eugene’s CAHOOTS program, is part of a national movement toward sending trained workers to help people in mental health crises, rather than calling in police. 

Too often, county officials say, police without adequate mental health training have by default become the front-line response for people experiencing a mental health crisis, a situation county officials call “unacceptable and unsafe.”

Pauline Gichohi, Lane County’s Behavioral Health Division manager, says trained crisis teams can diffuse situations, calling in police only when necessary.

“We don’t want the first response to be law enforcement,” Gichohi says.

County officials want to locate teams so that they’re within an hour’s drive to every person in the county. Gichohi says teams will meet people where they are located, providing stabilizing, trauma-informed care and helping them connect with local care providers. The teams can also deliver harm-reduction supplies, such as Narcan, which can help revive people experiencing an opioid overdose.

“We want to be thoughtful about how we provide this service to the entire residency of the county,” Gichohi  says.

For the past five years, a pilot program has operated in the Western Lane Fire and EMS Authority, which covers Florence and the surrounding areas. 

Read more on Eugene Weekly’s website here.