PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Sam Rabins, Associate Director of Criminal Justice Services at WellPower
3:40:40
·
177 sec
Sam Rabins, Associate Director of Criminal Justice Services at WellPower, provided testimony on Denver's Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program, an alternative response to low-risk 911 calls related to substance use and mental health concerns. The program aims to provide the right response at the right time, sending mental health clinicians and medics instead of traditional emergency services for certain situations.
- STAR has expanded from 1 pilot van to 16 response vans since its launch in June 2020
- The program is a collaborative effort involving multiple organizations and is integrated into Denver's 911 system
- Over the past 12 months, STAR responded to 4,489 clinical encounters with 2,943 unique individuals, resulting in zero arrests
Sam Rabins
3:40:40
Thank you to the distinguished chairs and city council members for hosting this hearing.
3:40:43
It is a true honor privilege to be with you with you today.
3:40:46
My name is Sam Ravenz, and I currently serve as the associate director of criminal justice services at Wellpower, a nonprofit community mental health center known nationally as a model for innovative care.
3:40:55
We proudly serve the city and county of Denver and support communities in their wellness and recovery.
3:41:00
In my role, I oversee multiple programs that focus on the intersectionality of mental health and criminal justice.
3:41:05
Today, I'd like to talk about one of our programs at the forefront of innovation and mental health crisis response.
3:41:11
Star or support team assisted response, serves as Denver's response to alternative to low risk, low acuity 911 calls, many of which are related to substance use and mental health concerns.
3:41:20
Launched June 1 2020, the STAR program is a partnership between WildPower, Denver Health, one of Colorado's premier healthcare institutions, Denver Department of Public Health And Environment, the Office of Social Equity And Innovation, Servizio Stelarasa, and the Star Community Partner Network, and caring for Denver.
3:41:36
Since 2020, Star has expanded from 1 pilot van consisting of 1 mental health clinician and 1 medic 16 initial response bands with 8 clinicians and 8 medics onboard and a group of community organizations that help support individuals and crisis post fan response.
3:41:50
The intent of Star is to support community members in crisis by sending the right response at the right time.
3:41:55
People call 911 for an array of reasons, and it's not always something that presents with a legal nexus.
3:42:01
Previously, 911 calls were handled solely by police, fire, or emergency medical services.
3:42:05
Denver took steps to look at how to best meet the expansive needs of a community and added the star program to the emergency response system.
3:42:12
1 of the components that make Star such a successful program is the collaborative partnership that we have with Denver 911.
3:42:18
Denver 911 View Star is a 4th type of response alongside police, fire, and emergency medical services.
3:42:24
This means that there are policies, procedures, and trainings put into place to identify the most appropriate response type for each call that comes through Denver 911 and thus send the most appropriate type of support for the Denver community.
3:42:36
This is a paradigm shift from how we previously supported community members in in crisis.
3:42:41
Star provides a trauma informed response to those that request an emergency or imminent crisis response.
Joseph Rosenberg
3:42:45
Has expired.
Mercedes Narcisse
3:42:47
But you
Linda Lee
3:42:48
could just wrap up.
3:42:48
Yeah.
Sam Rabins
3:42:50
Thank you.
3:42:50
Initial response team or Star Van team provides direct clinical deescalation, community service connections, as well as on demand resources such as water, food, clothing, and basic living supports.
3:42:59
Our team helps the emergency response system handle the overwhelming number of 911 calls that don't require lease response.
3:43:05
The team can provide medical assessment triage crisis, intervention, de escalation, and connection to community resources.
3:43:11
Star teams can also transport clients to those resources as necessary.
3:43:15
We provide harm reduction trauma and harm philosophy with people and are able to creatively meet whatever need they are pursuing.
Linda Lee
3:43:21
Okay.
3:43:21
Sorry.
3:43:21
If you could just wrap up in 1 or 2 more sentences.
Sam Rabins
3:43:24
Yep.
3:43:25
Just wanted to get some stats really quick over the past 12 months.
3:43:28
Star has successfully responded to 4400 89 clinical encounters with 2943 unique individuals.
3:43:34
And of those, there has not been a single arrest.
