Editorial: Clinician-led mental health teams are positive step for those in crisis

It’s great to see that Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration is set to boost the city’s ability to respond to mental health emergencies.

For too long—not just in Indianapolis but in many cities—police have been the first responders not just when a crime has been committed but also when people are generally in distress.

For years, when residents call 911, emergency dispatchers have had essentially three choices: Send the police, send firefighters or send an ambulance—and sometimes the response is all three.

Increasingly, though, community leaders across the country have recognized that a fourth option is needed, one aimed specifically at helping people who are struggling with a mental health crisis. In fact, sending police into these situations can be difficult and sometimes dangerous not just for the person in crisis but for the responders as well.

So we are pleased to see that, starting this summer, clinician-led teams will respond to situations in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s Downtown District that dispatchers determine are mental-health-related. The program is expected to later expand to the east side.

As IBJ reporter Taylor Wooten reported on page 5A, calls for clinician-led response teams have intensified since April 2022 when Herman Whitfield III, who was having a mental health crisis, died while in police custody after being shocked with a stun gun. Last month, a grand jury indicted two of the IMPD officers involved in the response.

Since that time, the city has been working with the not-for-profit Faith in Indiana to develop a clinician-led program, and Hogsett secured $2 million in the budget to fund the program.

Josh Riddick, an organizer with Faith in Indiana, said it will be important that residents and workers within downtown and east-side districts understand that “law enforcement does not have to be the intervention” when people need help. Riddick called the change “a cultural shift in our community to consider a non-law-enforcement piece as a realistic and necessary response to people.”

Of course, it won’t always be clear when a clinician-led team is the right response. The police will still respond when weapons are involved or the safety of others appears to be at risk. And already, the city has a Mobile Crisis Assistance Team in place that includes a clinician and a police officer for some of those cases.

But when it’s appropriate, a team of three—a clinical supervisor, a licensed clinical social worker and a peer specialist—will respond to a call. The team will try to deescalate the situation, address immediate needs and provide a care plan for the person involved moving forward.

The city’s director of public health and safety, Romy Bernard-Tucker, said the program “holds incredible promise.” We think so, too.

Hogsett and IMPD—and the entire community—have a long way to go to make a dent in the city’s public safety problems. But this is a great step, one that should better serve those in a mental health crisis but also free up police officers for crucial work we need them to be doing.•

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