New Haven Crisis Response Team Plan Moves Forward

NEW HAVEN, CT - The city formally announced its partnership with the Connecticut Mental Health Center to run the Community Crisis Response Team planning phase.

Announced last summer, the Crisis Response Team was created as a plan to better allocate city services when residents call during an emergency, according to a news release from the city.

Mayor Justin Elicker and Community Services Administrator, Dr. Mehul Dalal, and members from CMHC and the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Commissioner Miriam Delphin-Rittmon made the announcement Monday.

"In response to events of the last summer, where communities across the nation, including ours, pressed to re-imagine first responses in the context of police brutality and racial justice – and in response to the New Haven Police Department fielding thousands of calls for service during the year, the Community Crisis Response Team program will be aimed at providing a more holistic approach to certain service calls that may not require police," a news release from Elicker's office reads.

The mobile community crisis team will be led by "professionals with expertise in harm reduction, mental health, substance use, and other social supports that will be dispatched to appropriate calls through the 9-1-1 call center," the city noted.

The CMHC will lead the creation of an implementation plan for a mobile crisis team that will be dispatched through the 9-1-1 call center. These units will be staffed by a social worker, and potentially by a peer specialist to field service calls to lower acuity situations.

"The City of New Haven has learned from other programs in the country that have worked well in emphasizing de-escalation, harm reduction, and connection to city services," the release reads. "These findings from similar programs will assist the City in uniquely implementing a plan for the context of social issues in New Haven."

New Haven's plan is to implement the Community Crisis Response Team in four phases, Elicker's office said. There will be a planning phase of approximately six months. During the planning phase, it will partner with community members, ensuring that people with lived experiences, their families and those who will be directly impacted by the program, have a strong voice in the design and implementation of the program.

During the second phase, it will pilot the program on a smaller scale, potentially with limited hours of service within the City. The subsequent phases will scale up operations until the fourth phase, where the city hopes to implement a 24/7 service provision covering all of New Haven.