Every day, scores of people in mental or emotional distress call for help. If they dial 9-1-1, what happens? As many argue for curtailing the role of police, what are other options in Baltimore for such emergency calls?
Adrienne Breidenstine of Behavioral Health System Baltimore describes where gaps in the system let people down, and how they might be filled. And we ask Edgar Wiggins, founder of Baltimore Crisis Response, which is funded by BHS, how it works.
After a Baltimore man in a mental-health crisis was shot by police, both Behavioral Health System Baltimore and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund issued calls for changes in how the city responds to such calls for help. Read the BHS statement. Read the NAACP LDF statement.
The Federal Communications Commission moved ahead last December with plans for a 9-8-8 number for suicide prevention. Learn more here.
