The Mental Health Response Team is made up of police officers, paramedics and clinicians known as the SA-Core.
SAN ANTONIO — Starting Monday, San Antonio’s Mental Health Response Team will be operating around the clock.
The Mental Health Response Team is made up of police officers, paramedics and clinicians. Known as SA-Core, the team responds to all non-violent mental health calls in the city.
read: San Antonio’s Mental Health Crisis Team, SA CORE, Expands Citywide
“We have a combined response to deal with someone in crisis,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said, “We have everybody there who is trained to deal with those situations.”
Before the program began, patrol officers were the only first responders.
“This measure will eliminate the need for patrol officers to respond to mental health calls, which is not necessarily what we want or should do,” Chief McManus said.
The program began with one team in 2022. Between April and December 2022, 56% of people served by SA-Core began services at the Health Care Services Center (CHCS).
“Without this program, with its compassionate, comprehensive response team and thorough follow-up with clinicians afterwards, these people could have easily fallen through the gaps in the system,” said Jesse Higgins, Metro Health’s chief mental health officer.
This year, SA-Core added two more teams to provide citywide coverage, and from January to April, they responded to 1,224 calls and made only two arrests.
“The purpose of this program is, first and foremost, to respond to 911 mental health calls and assist people who are in a behavioral health crisis with the least restrictive approach,” Higgins said. “Across our three teams, the majority of calls are resolved on scene or transported to a hospital via emergency detention or transported to address another need.”
In August, Metro Health will be able to compare its effectiveness through the percentage of calls it can answer with its new overnight response.
