Growing crisis-response model meets people where they are and frees up other emergency personnel to respond to crises

Navigating America’s physical and behavioral health systems can be convoluted at best. So it’s no surprise that thousands of people annually in Larimer County call 911 when they or someone they know is experiencing a mental health crisis.

Doing that in the City of Fort Collins means that a licensed clinician and police officer will respond, as part of what some are calling an emerging fourth branch of emergency services: a mental health co-responder team.

“At the end of the day, we’re just human beings who have had bad days, working with other people who are having bad days,” said Sierra Black, a licensed social worker and UCHealth behavioral health clinical co-responder on the Fort Collins Police Services Mental Health Response Team. 

Black has been with the team for about 2.5 years and works with her partner, Officer Meagan Robinson. Whether a person in crisis calls 911, or a family member does on their behalf, the co-response team’s goals are to be as supportive as possible, stabilize the individual, engage in a conversation about longer-term care, and connect them to resources. 

“We want to come alongside them to make a plan and work with them to make decisions,” said Black, who saw what family members struggling with addiction experienced and wanted to work in a role where she could offer a gentler approach. 

The co-response model provides a more cohesive, wrap-around alternative to the traditional 911 system. Teams are popping up across the U.S., but Colorado still has the most, as of early 2025, said Jessica Murphy, chair of the International Co-Responder Alliance and deputy division director in Johnson County Kansas, home of one of the nation’s early co-responder programs.

Before co-response teams existed, there was a “very big spectrum” in terms of officers’ comfort with behavioral health and de-escalating situations, said Andrea Linafeler, UCHealth behavioral health manager. Fort Collins Police Services had a “good culture” around behavioral health, she said, but more specialized expertise was needed for on-site care and to reduce the number of people going to emergency rooms and the jail for mental-health related care. 

Generally speaking, firefighters are known to put out fires, police fight crime, and paramedics provide medical care. Now, co-responder clinicians are on scene to focus on the most human (and generally complex) aspect of a crisis: the people.

Sgt. Andrew Leslie has served in law enforcement in Fort Collins for over 20 years and was eager for the opportunity to lead the Mental Health Response Team when it came about in 2021. It began as a pilot program with two officers and one UCHealth clinician and has grown since, thanks to investments from Fort Collins Police Services and the UCHealth Foundation, and other sources like a Larimer County Behavioral Health Services Impact Fund grant.

Prior to the co-response team’s existence, Leslie said behavioral health was discussed at the agency, but officers didn’t have much training in how to respond to mental health-related calls beyond verbal de-escalation. 

Because there weren’t as many tools, officers often took people to the hospital for support with withdrawal management, or detox, and other mental health-related needs. The jail was also a common alternative in a community without many other options prior to the opening of Acute Care at Longview Campus, which was made possible by passage of the 2018 behavioral health sales tax. This meant that ERs and jails were being overburdened, and individuals with mental health challenges sometimes got a citation and care that didn’t meet their ongoing and longer-term needs.

Today, data show that the Mental Health Response Team is saving time and money. Leslie has a dynamic virtual data dashboard that shows the number of mental health-related calls in a year, whether people received a citation, whether they were transported to an ER, jail, or behavioral health facility, and other information collected by FCPS co-responder teams.  

Leading with the end in mind, Leslie has a section called, “Resources Saved.” Calls have always been made to 911 about mental health crises. What's different now is that co-responder teams address them directly, allowing other police, fire, and emergency services personnel to either leave a scene sooner than they would have in the past or respond to other 911 calls altogether. 

In 2023, no other officers had to respond in 429 out of 1,882 calls. That number increased to 473 out of 1,864 calls. In many instances, other police units were released from mental health-related calls within 10 minutes, allowing them to focus on other emergencies. This also allows co-response team members to spend time with people so they receive quality care and feel supported.

“This program has allowed officers to respond to calls and treat people the way we want our family members to treated,” Leslie said, explaining, “If your family member was suffering from a mental health issue and (what they were doing was) potentially perceived as a criminal issue, you would want the the response to be understanding, compassionate, and fair.” 

On a Friday afternoon in January 2025, UCHealth Behavioral Health Clinical Co-responder Cora Luedtke shared her thoughts after responding to a call to support an individual who was intoxicated and thinking about suicide. She and her partner Officer Chris Bland had worked with this individual before, which enabled them to talk and get them to the Acute Care facility at Longview campus for further treatment.

Luedtke has the perspective of a mental health provider and “appreciative family member,” having seen people like those on her team compassionately care for a family member in crisis when she was growing up.

Because of that, it means a lot to her to be able to slow things down, give people a service in their home that works for them, maintain safety for everyone involved, and reach an outcome where individuals don’t have to go to the hospital or a higher level of care, if unnecessary. A resolution like that saves individuals time and money, as well as Larimer County taxpayers.

Asked what it means to live and work in a community that values behavioral health so much so that voters tax themselves to support it, Luedtke said: 

“We love nothing more than being able to be in the community, even if it means having hard conversations,” she said. “Often, our services aren’t relevant to people until they need them.” 

But when they do, the co-responders in this community will be there.