GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids' first mental health co-response team shared their findings since starting the program July 5, 2022.
The team consists of Paul Smith, a 25-year veteran of the Grand Rapids Police Department, and Krissy Lung, who worked with Network 180 for 18 years.
The team responds to mental health calls and well-being checks, in addition to calls where people may be threatening to take their life.
Smith says having Lung in his patrol car has changed a number of things. For starters, because Lung is a Licensed Master Social Worker, she is able to access information that police officers can't, such as case managers and medical history.
Smith drives an unmarked vehicle. Lung says that automatically helps because more people are willing to get a ride from an unmarked car for the help they need, as opposed to an ambulance.
“We’ve been able to de-escalate situations. Sometimes people feel overwhelmed when an ambulance shows up, and two cop cars show up. And a fire truck shows up,” Krissy Lung said.
Smith says he's learned a lot from Lung, and they make a good team. Their various specialties and Lung's clinical and technical knowledge of people in crisis help them to better assess what resources to use.
“It’s easy for her to determine maybe it’s substance abuse and not mental illness, whereas to me it all kind of looks the same to me. She has a lot of clinical knowledge I’m willing to listen to,” Smith said.
This is the first team of this type in the City of Grand Rapids and in Kent County. The City says they plan to continue to expand this program across shifts.
The co-response team has handled 325 calls for service since it went live four months ago. EMS services were called 126 fewer times because Lung was able to help intervene and connect people to resources.
87 people got social-work instead of being taken to the emergency room.
23 people didn't spend the night in jail when experiencing a mental health crisis.
Instead, they got help.
Smith and Lung say they want to see more teams like them helping people in Grand Rapids.
The City Manager agrees, and says similarly to the Homeless Outreach Team, this program may expand to cover more shifts in the City.
“There definitely is a need for this type of approach,” Mark Washington said.
