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Welcome to AMSA, Willamette Valley Crisis Care!

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HEADLINES

BRISTOL - Virginia expands crisis care with $3.5M (Inside Nova)

The Bristol site is part of Virginia’s $1.4 billion push since 2022 to expand mental health and addiction services through new funding, legislation and initiatives. Virginia has tripled crisis stabilization capacity in that time, from 216 slots to 663. More than 100 publicly funded mobile crisis teams are also in operation, with average response times of less than an hour.

More about Virginia’s RIGHT HELP RIGHT NOW program.

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BALTIMORE - Brother of 70-year-old woman killed by police calls for reforming city’s crisis response (Baltimore Banner)

The brother of 70-year-old Pytorcarcha Brooks, who was shot and killed by Baltimore Police officers last month, demanded “action” in response to his sister’s death — a tragedy, he said, that should have never taken place.

Body camera footage from Brooks’ shooting showed how, in the span of about 30 minutes, the officers who arrived at the scene of Brooks’ behavioral health crisis went from telling a family member they had no ability to enter the home to breaking down the front door with a Taser in hand.

Pytorcarcha Brooks

Dontae Melton Jr.’s death while in police custody ruled a homicide by medical examiner (WMAR)

"Dontae's death was not an accident. It was the direct result of the actions and inactions of those sworn to protect him. This was a preventable tragedy," a statement from attorneys representing Melton’s family said in part.

This comes a day after the Maryland Attorney General’s Office released six hours of body-worn camera footage detailing the near-hour long wait for a medic at the scene, who never came.

BPD is left unscathed after City Council members lambast behavioral health systems during hearing on crisis response systems (Baltimore Beat)

Community members who spoke during public testimony were stunned and even distressed by the narrative shifting so heavily toward behavioral health systems, and the officers and systems responsible for the deaths of Dontae Melton Jr., Bilal “BJ” Abdullah, and Pytorcarcha Brooks being treated as background figures.

Council members pressed leaders from Behavioral Health Systems Baltimore and Baltimore Crisis Response, Inc. on gaps in service, delays in response times, and the inadequacies of data collection. They questioned the lack of coordination, the limited capacity of the city’s sole mobile crisis team, and the insufficient cultural and community-based responsiveness of existing programs.

They directed almost zero questions to Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Richard Worley.