Grant Recipient: Stanford University
Principal Investigator(s): Thomas S Dee, James Pyne
Term: 2024 – 2026
Funding: $940,533
Summary: Our project supports the design, implementation, and evaluation of an innovative and compelling strategy for conducting “first response” to individuals in behavioral-health crises. The Community Wellness and Crisis Response Team (CWCRT) program in San Mateo County, California is an innovative and compelling “co-response” program in which trained mental-health specialists accompany police officers on emergency calls related to non-violent behavioral-health issues (e.g., mental-health crises, welfare checks, and substance abuse).
This emerging programmatic innovation is a distinct alternative to the standard approach in which police officers respond to such calls for service alone. Our chief purpose is to study the implementation of the program and to evaluate the program’s impact on reducing offenses, arrests, and emergency psychiatric holds.
