Adriana Davis-Tarantino
Facts
Co-Response Need
According to the 2019 Middlesex County Restoration Center Commission Report, the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office is the largest mental health facility in Middlesex County; 42% of the population is on psychiatric medication and 51% have "open mental health cases."
Police officers receive little training and have limited resources to respond to calls involving these individuals.
45% of inmates in the county jail system have a form of mental illness.
80% have a substance use condition.
Co-Response Impact
Co-Response programs divert individuals with a behavioral health condition 74% to 88% of the time, resulting in a total estimated cost savings of as much as $4.9 million for the state. Advocates Co-Response clinicians divert on average, 55 individuals per month from unnecessary hospital emergency room visits.
For a full look at the impact data of the Co-Response Jail Diversion Program, please download our Jail Diversion fact sheet.
Police Satisfaction
93% of JDP Police Officers found the clinician helpful
91% of JDP Police Officers found the services helpful
Officers cite the immediacy of the response, their familiarity with the clinicians, and the clinicians’ ability to de-escalate situations as the most important components of the JDP model.
Here is what our police partners say about co-response:
“Having clinicians embedded with us at Watertown PD has been a huge game-changer for our police officers and for members of the community, as well. The clinicians are truly valued members of the team. I've said many times that the co-response clinicians at Watertown PD do some of the most important work in our department and some of the most important work in our city.”
Captain Dan Unsworth, Watertown Police Department
“I highly recommend the Advocates co-response program. It has shown dramatic benefits for the town of Natick and for our officers. It has strengthened our ability to support and follow up with community members. Co-response has simply been a homerun.”
Lt. Chad Howard, Natick Police Department
“Through co-response, we’ve grown our officers’ set of tools for navigating different situations. It has been a huge benefit. Seeing the relief in community members’ eyes when we have clinical resources to provide has been very gratifying.”
Chief Scott Nix, Sudbury Police Department
“The Advocates program is a gold standard for clinician programs in law enforcement, and having a co-response clinician on our team has been an invaluable resource. If you asked anyone on our staff how they feel about co-response, they’d wonder how we managed prior to having a clinician on-board.”
Chief Richard DiPersio, Hudson Police Department
