Co-responder teams of UCHealth clinicians, Fort Collins police providing critical 911 behavioral health care (Behavioral Health)

Growing crisis-response model meets people where they are and frees up other emergency personnel to respond to crisesNavigating America’s physical and behavioral health systems can be convoluted at best. So it’s no surprise that thousands of people annually in Larimer County call 911 when they or someone they know is experiencing a mental health crisis.Doing that in the City of Fort Collins means that a licensed clinician and police officer will respond, as part of what some are calling an emerging fourth branch of emergency services: a mental health co-responder team.“At the end of the day, we’re just human beings who have had bad days, working with other people who are having bad days,” said Sierra Black, a licensed social worker and UCHealth behavioral health clinical co-responder on theFort Collins Police Services Mental Health Response Team.Black has been with the team for about 2.5 years and works with her partner, Officer Meagan Robinson. Whether a person in crisis calls 911, or...