Mental Health Assistance and Response Team
At USC, first responders who provide welfare checks and other calls potentially involving mental health now have support from mental health clinicians who are involved with responding to individuals in crisis.
“The impetus for the program is that we want students in crisis — or potentially in crisis — that are having mental health issues to interact primarily with mental health clinicians as an alternative to law enforcement,” said Steven Siegel, professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
The partnership between safety officers and mental health clinicians allows for a trauma-informed approach to responding to students during a time of critical stress.
Read the 2022 article on the launch of the program in USC Today.