New Haven’s mental health crisis response team, Elm City COMPASS, is expanding. The team will have more staff, longer hours and will be deployed without police officers and firefighters.
COMPASS (Compassionate Allies Serving Our Streets) launched in November 2022 in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. It was in an attempt to deescalate mental health emergencies without armed officers.
Initially, it was one team deployed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Now, two teams with a licensed social worker and peer recovery support specialist will work simultaneously during busy hours, and they’ve more than doubled their hours of operation. They’ll also be going out on calls on their own, without firefighters or police officers.
Dr. Jack Tebes is the program’s director.
“We have closed several service gaps in the system,” Tebes said. “The system is not perfect, and we still have a ways to go. But for the first time, we have comprehensive support at the system level when someone calls 911 and needs help with a mental health or substance use crisis.”
Mayor Justin Elicker said COMPASS is keeping people out of the emergency room, where people experiencing serious mental health crises sometimes end up.
“Elm City COMPASS is about having the right person with the right skills at the right time show up to help support members of our community that are really struggling with a variety of different issues,” Elicker said.
The team has responded to more than 1,600 calls since it launched. They recently got their own “headquarters” in the city.
