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HEADLINES

HOUSTON - 'Women will die:' Houston's domestic violence response team faces uncertain future as funds run dry (Houston Chronicle)

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CHAPEL HILL - “Handcuffs and Hospitals Are Not the Solution”: Chapel Hill’s CARE Team Marks One Year (IndyWeek)

(From left to right) Mari Hall, Heather Palmateer, Jennifer Melvin, and Alia Martin make up the Chapel Hill CARE Team, which runs out of the Chapel Hill Police Department and the Orange County 911 call center.

Cities nationwide have instituted non-police alternate response programs, but Chapel Hill is among the relatively small number that includes practitioners with their own lived experience with mental health challenges to respond to people in crisis.

Jennifer Melvin acts as CARE’s peer support specialist. She knows well what it’s like to be on the other side of the phone calls she answers everyday.

“When someone shows up that’s actually been through what you’ve been through, or knows about it and can assist you with it, [it] makes you more relaxed and more willing to receive help,” says Melvin.