Lessons From an Interagency Coalition: Developing a Training Program for Acute Mental Health Crisis Response

Abstract

This study describes the development and evaluation of Better Together, a coalition between law enforcement, first responders, and health care organizations to develop an interagency training for managing justice-involved individuals with mental health issues. In the United States, calls to 9-1-1 and other crisis lines frequently dispatch law enforcement, first responders, and sometimes crisis intervention teams. As these individuals are assessed and managed during the response, they are taken into custody by law enforcement, transported for medical care, or released. A Department of Justice grant led to the facilitation of a collaborative to discuss how training in the various involved organizations aligns with complexities of these cases on the ground. An interagency training program was developed to clarify agency roles and improve cross-sector collaboration. Pretest, posttest, and 2-week follow-up assessments measured participant knowledge and understanding of agency roles. Overall scores improved significantly from pretest (63%) to posttest (76%, p < .001) and remained high in the 2-week follow-up (75%, p = .021). However, changes in leadership since the completion of the training have demonstrated the tenuous nature of keeping a collaboration of this nature sustainable.