Jail Diversion Services

Co-Response Jail Diversion

Advocates partners with police departments across Massachusetts to operate co-response programs that support individuals experiencing behavioral health challenges in the community. The model is grounded in the belief that when behavioral health clinicians and law enforcement respond together, people in crisis receive safer, more compassionate, and more clinically informed care.

Our co-response clinicians work alongside officers to help assess risk, de-escalate situations, and connect individuals to the most appropriate services. This collaborative approach reduces unnecessary emergency department visits and involvement in the criminal legal system, while strengthening relationships between police and the communities they serve.

What Co-Response Clinicians Do

Our clinicians are embedded within local police departments and provide support across the full continuum of response and care:

• Respond to 911 calls for service in the community alongside officers
• Assess and stabilize behavioral health crises on-scene
• Develop safety plans with individuals and families
• Offer brief follow-up support after the crisis
• Provide warm handoffs to community-based services and longer-term treatment providers
• Consult with police on patterns, repeat calls, and resource coordination
• Facilitate trainings for officers on crisis communication, mental health, and trauma-informed response
• Support officer wellness and awareness of stress and vicarious trauma

Why Our Co-Response Model Matters

Communities across Massachusetts benefit when crisis response is rooted in empathy, clinical expertise, and shared problem-solving. Departments consistently report:

• Reduction in repeat crisis calls
• Fewer unnecessary transports to emergency departments
• Appropriate alternatives to arrest when safe and possible
• Increased officer confidence when responding to behavioral health situations
• Strengthened trust and transparency with the community

Co-Response Program History

Advocates launched the first Pre-Arrest Co-Response Program in Massachusetts in 2003 at the Framingham Police Department.

The model was successfully replicated in Marlborough (2008), Watertown (2011),  Natick (2019), and offered on a regional basis in Hudson & Sudbury (2018), Westborough, Southborough, & Northborough (2019), Lowell (2021), Mansfield (2021), Stow & Harvard (2022), Belmont (2022), Shrewsbury (2022), Uxbridge, Blackstone, & Millville (2022), Northbridge & Douglas (2022), Grafton, Millbury, & Sutton (2022), Sharon & Westwood (2022). 

Post-Response Jail Diversion

The Advocates Post-Response Jail Diversion Program promotes physical, mental, and emotional health by providing voluntary jail diversion and intervention through a flexible framework of outreach, counseling, psychoeducation, resource provision, and case management. The Post-Response team collaborates with police and co-response clinicians in eight communities in the Blackstone Valley.

Blackstone Valley Connector (BVC)

The BVC program was initially launched with a grant from the Greater Milford Community Health Network, CHNA 6. Currently, BVC is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. The program offers support and resources to individuals and families in the Blackstone Valley who have had interactions with law enforcement, addressing a wide range of challenges.

Focusing on physical, mental, and emotional well-being, the Connector team provides voluntary jail diversion and intervention through outreach, counseling, psychoeducation, resource assistance, and case management. In collaboration with eight local police departments (Northbridge, Uxbridge, Douglas, Grafton, Millbury, Sutton, Blackstone, and Millville), law enforcement, first responders, and co-response clinicians can directly refer individuals and families to the program.

For more information, please call (508) 488-5084.