Public Radio for the Piedmont and High Country
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Winston-Salem Considers Changes To Emergency Mental Health Response

Winston-Salem City Council is reviewing proposed changes that could impact the city's response method for 911 mental health-related calls. KERI BROWN/ WFDD

The city of Winston-Salem is exploring possible changes to how police respond to mental health-related 911 calls.

Currently, when a call comes in for an individual experiencing a mental health crisis in Winston-Salem, local police are dispatched. Officers rely on their crisis intervention training, but some community members say they want to see a different approach, in some cases asking city officials to divert funds from the police department to pay for these programs. It's an issue numerous cities are grappling with.

Winston-Salem city staff recently provided council members with some options: continue with the current method, dispatch a mental health professional with law enforcement (co-response model), or a mental health provider would go out first and call for law enforcement if needed (alternative response model).

Assistant City Manager Tasha Logan Ford says the first step is analyzing three years of call data. That would then lead to pilot programs.

"At the same time we are doing the call analysis piece, there will also have to be some work done to reach out to service providers so if we need to build this structure, what will it take to do that,” she says.

Ford says another possibility could include a separate number or system used when a loved one is experiencing a mental health crisis.

Her goal is to bring the call volume data that are collected to city council members this spring.

*Follow WFDD's Keri Brow on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

Support quality journalism, like the story above,
with your gift right now.

Donate