Crisis units a good step for mental health response

Nice to see some cooperation between the city of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County to address a critical community need.

The two governments are working together to create three mobile units to help people in crisis, especially those struggling with mental health issues or addiction. The effort is expected to cost up to $500,000 a year, but it will be paid for through a gross receipts tax voters approved in 2014.

“I’m thrilled to see that there is acknowledgement that this is a responsibility for us as a community — not just county government, not just city government,” County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins said. “We both have an obligation to work together.”

The units will include law enforcement officers and mental health counselors. They will respond to situations as they occur, providing immediate intervention, instead of having officers take the person in crisis to an emergency room or to jail.

“This is a way to get the person help and treat them on scene,” Mayor Richard Berry said.

The units are part of a larger effort of the two governments to improve behavioral health services in the wake of a number of incidents involving law enforcement engaging with mentally ill people or those in crisis that ended poorly, including the fatal shooting of James Boyd, a homeless man camping in the Sandia foothills.

A county mental health tax that took effect in July 2015 raises about $17 million a year for new programs that are being considered by a panel of county commissioners, city councilors and a representative of the mayor. The County Commission has agreed to fund about $5 million in programs, including community engagement teams that check on people before police must be called, housing for homeless teens and help for children who have a parent in jail or have mental illness and addiction issues.

Also, the city spends about $16 million a year on behavioral health and is training all of its field officers in crisis intervention and de-escalation techniques.

Mental health services have been in short supply in the metro area and throughout the state, so these moves are needed. It’s good to see this level of cooperation and forward progress.