In case you missed it, here is part of an article on AZ Central about how Mesa's Crisis Team diverted thousands of 911 calls to behaviorial health experts last year. For the entire article, visit the AZ Central website.
A crisis team trained in mental and behavioral health responded over 3,500 times to 911 calls in Mesa last year.
In 2019, the city partnered with local community organizations to divert calls away from police and fire crews to trained mental health specialists. The program has put Mesa on a national stage including a shoutout earlier this year from President Joe Biden on the city's efforts to expand the type of public safety responses.
Last year, Mesa saw the number of diverted calls to its crisis team increase by 90% from the previous year.
The program works in two parts. First, there's a 911 call specialist trained to divert the calls to the crisis team. Then, the team responds.