File Photo: Winona City Council
(KWNO)-The Winona City Council approved the city’s contract with Hiawatha Valley Mental Health Centers to set up the Alternate Response Team (ART) Monday night.
The team will be made up of two mental health professionals from Hiawatha Valley Mental Health Centers. Those professionals would respond to mental health-related calls that police officers are responding to now.
Police Chief Tom Williams said the program will help Winona.
“We have calls for service with the same individuals time and time and time again. And based on staffing, and our abilities, although we do a phenomenal job as a department dealing with mental health issues and substance abuse issues, we just don’t have the time and we don’t have the ability to do case follow-up,” said Williams.
The formation of the team came from a working group made up of mental health professionals, law enforcement, community members and other city leaders. City manager Steve Sarvi said the ART is a proactive measure to connect residents to services that can help them and says similar programs have done well in other communities.
“Nearly every community that started an alternative response option is still going,” Sarvi told councilmembers. He says the duties of the mental health professionals are not specifically listed in the contract by design.
“The programs have to be adaptable to meet the needs of the community. We don’t want to start with a ridged structure of services. We need to trust in this process and let it develop over time,” said Sarvi.
Hiawatha Valley Executive Director Eric Sievers said they hope to use data collected from the program to determine blind spots in mental health service offerings.
“We’re an agency that has done things differently a bit and evolved over time as the needs of people have changed,” said Sievers. “I think this is just a continuation of that.”
Williams envisions calls coming into dispatch and being transferred to the ART, who will determine whether or not they need law enforcement assistance.
“They will have direct communication with the law enforcement center to make sure everyone is safe,” Williams said.
The council unanimously approved the contract, which expires in 2024.
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