Crisis response teams seeing rise in calls stemming from depression

Separate Rochester and Monroe County crisis response teams are seeing a city-driven rise in calls — mainly to assist people who are suicidal or experiencing chronic mental illness.

The county’s Forensic Intervention Team has seen its call volume double from last year, averaging more than nine responses daily — triple that of 2019. While Rochester’s Person In Crisis team, launched in January, is well over initially projected caseloads.

“If I had to guess I would say its more awareness,” said Corinda Crossdale, Monroe County’s deputy county executive for health and human services.

These civilian teams, staffed by clinicians, social workers and counselors, are part of a national push seeking alternatives to a law enforcement response. Local attention ramped up in the wake of the March 2020 police killing of Daniel Prude, who was in the midst of a mental health crisis when officers restrained and ultimately suffocated him.

The focus only intensified with RPD’s pepper spraying of a handcuffed, 9-year-old girl in January, and the shooting death of Tyshon Jones as he brandished a knife outside the People’s City Mission last month.

Still linked to police response

There is criticism that the government action has been too slow and inadequate. “I’m kind of shocked at how underwhelming the change has been in Rochester,” said activist Danielle Ponder, a public defender who also serves on the countywide race and equity commission. “I think people would welcome radical change.”

Both agencies have limited scope, yet are stretched thin and working quickly to add staff. And both are largely wedded to a police response.

Said Crossdale: “You are never going to put a clinician in the spot of a peace officer. … I think that is where people get confused. Clinicians aren’t trained to be peace officers. They are only trained to deal with a deescalated situation.”

The goal, though, is not only to limit police involvement but improve outcomes on scene and through follow-ups, when needed, that aim to connect people in crisis to services they need, and keep them engaged — to keep them from falling into a crisis that might result in a call to 911.

Where that used to be 70% of FIT’s workload, it’s now closer to a 50-50 split with the rising call volume, Crossdale said.

FIT is summoned to the scene by law enforcement, whereas the PIC team is dispatched solo (to low acuity calls) or as part of a co-response alongside police; then waiting until police secure the scene before going in. The co-response started a couple weeks back.

“We’re responding most of the the time,” said Danielle Lyman-Torres, the city’s commissioner of recreation and human services whose department houses the PIC team. “Very few times (are calls) stacked so closely have had to call off. … But we are at maximum, and we definitely have to add to the team.”

“Many people would be surprised at how many (calls) come in around depression,” Lyman-Torres added. “I think many people don’t understand the volume of what is happening.”

The city team numbers 16, but is in the midst of hiring and training, with a goal of 30 by mid-April. The team is made up entirely of city residents with 60% or more being people of color, Lyman-Torres said. The county’s team has 10 full-time equivalent staffers, but officials expect to be at 28 in the next 90 days. Demographics were not immediately available.

Need more capacity to respond

“We can only expect call volume to increase as the weather changes,” Lyman-Torres said. “The data shows us the calls will increase. We are stretching.”

The Rochester team is averaging more than a dozen calls daily, according to the city. Initial projections put the volume at just more than seven calls daily. The expectation now is that the team needs the capacity to respond to upwards of 25.

When it comes to the type of calls coming in: “The main commonality and trend I see is there are many people who are in a suicidal state,” said Alia Henton-Williams, coordinator for the city’s Office of Crisis Intervention Services.

A solo call would likely involve a person in crisis calling 911, or 211, for help. A co-response would be triggered when that call comes from someone outside the residence, not knowing what is happening inside.

Teams operate 24/7. The city team responds in in pairs, with protocols for how the entities operate on scene, and what decisions get made by police, the crisis team, and ambulance or fire crews. The city declined to share those protocols.

“We work in partnership with the Police Department and EMS (emergency medical services),” Henton-Williams said. “Every scene is fluid, but we do have some guidelines and parameters around what we are doing for safety reasons that we need to follow.”

The interaction with police “has gone wonderfully,” she said, with officers accepting and welcoming of the assistance: “We’ve found a lot of officers who are learning from what we do.”

Going forward, Lyman-Torres said, “we definitely know that there are other things the PIC team can grow to support people in the community with. And that is going to be things just outside of the crisis support.”

There needs to be more, Ponder said, if the community is truly going to re-imagine policing. One of the recommendations put forth by the race and equity commission on which she serves is an additional team of trained community responders that, separate from mental health crisis and substance abuse-related calls, would handle low-level crimes, like retail theft, and some non-violent felonies and similarly connect people with services, support and, if necessary, mediation.