When someone calls 911 in Austin, they are given four options: police, fire, EMS or mental health services. Since the addition of the mental health option in 2021, the demand for it has only gone up.
Mental health specialists answer anywhere from 400 to 500 emergency calls a month, but Marisa Malik, director of crisis services and justice initiatives at Integral Care, said the true demand is much higher.
“The number of mental health calls that are coming in and that first responders are responding to far exceed the number of calls that are referred [to us],” Malik said. “Our teams aren’t currently staffed to scale to meet the needs of all the calls that would be appropriate for us to respond to.”
KUT's 24 Hours in Austin podcast featured the call center, which Malik said led to an uptick in mental health calls since it published.
Malik said she hopes a recent $1.46 million boost from the Austin City Council will change that. The funding will help Integral Care hire 23 additional mental health specialists. Five will work in the call center and the other 18 will join the Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, which arrives on the scene of a mental health crisis in place of a first responder.
Once those hires are made, the program will expand to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Right now, the crisis outreach team is on duty Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Aloki Shah is president of the United Workers of Integral Care, the union that represents Integral Care employees. She said she hopes the expansion will reduce the amount of mental health calls that get picked up by law enforcement. A 2018 city audit found that out of the 15 largest U.S. metro areas, Austin had the highest per capita rate of police killings involving people believed to be experiencing a mental health crisis.
"This amendment is a testament to the city’s commitment to a future where mental health care is prioritized, where crisis response does not default to law enforcement and lives are protected instead of lost,” Shah said at Thursday's council meeting.
Shah said the funding will also relieve long-standing staffing shortages in the Mobile Crisis Outreach Team.
“These shifts are hardest to fill, and without proper incentives, we have seen consistent gaps in coverage,” she said. “Gaps that mean people in crisis are left waiting for help that should be readily available are not getting it at all.”
The additional funding will also give staff more time to make follow up calls to patients a few months after their initial 911 call.
“Oftentimes a crisis isn’t stabilized after an initial visit. So that team really focuses on working with individuals to do treatment planning, case management,” Malik said. “And that really helps reduce a crisis from happening again.”
Integral Care will receive funding for the expansion on April 1 and expects to start operating around the clock later this summer.
