zlacker

>>js2+(OP)
In Eugene, OR, where I live, there is a program called CAHOOTS ("Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets") which is more or less the mental health equivalent of an ambulance. They're dispatched by non-emergency operators to situations such as mental health crises, public intoxication, and welfare checks- things where police officers would be asked to serve as a social worker, as the article puts it.

My understanding is that the program has been quite successful, and other cities have begun implementing their own similar programs using it as a model.

https://whitebirdclinic.org/cahoots-faq/

>>evan_+X9
California used to have programs like this in the 80’s. They were outlawed as part of Regan’s war on mental illness (or whatever he called it).

A friend of mine went through this, so I went through all the options with the a few emergency psychiatric wards.

These days, even if the person has medical insurance or someone wants to pay out of pocket, the mental health professionals aren’t allowed to do anything without getting the person in need of emergency care to sign an emergency consent form under their own free will, and while capable of making legal decisions (which is by-definition impossible). Pre signing the form “just in case” doesn’t count. My friend did this, in fact.

Other than waiting for the situation to escalate to violence (and getting the person incarcerated without care) the only option is to have a police officer (with no medical credentials) come out and make a diagnosis.

The officer almost always (and in this case, did) overrides any doctors and loved ones involved in the case, and finds that the person does not need care.

The triage nurse at one of the care centers told me that most residents of the many waterfront encampments in the city were people her office had previously turned away.