Toledo Co-Responder Unit Program Grant

The Lucas County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board identified 11,444 individuals who were booked at the Lucas County Corrections Center from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. Local officials estimate at least 66% (7,533) of those individuals had behavioral health needs. Despite the high need for behavioral health services, current mental health services at the Lucas County Corrections Center are minimal and are undoubtedly limited by delivery in a carceral setting. Toledo, Ohio lacks the ability to connect individuals with mental health disorders or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders to treatment rather than incarceration.

The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council is proposing to implement a co-responder unit in partnership with subrecipients Toledo Police Department (TPD) and the Zepf Center, a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, that operates in Toledo, Ohio. The Co-Responder Unit will operate within the eight geographical areas (sites) within Toledo, Ohio patrolled by TPD. The co-responder unit will pair licensed clinicians hired by the Zepf Center with Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) trained officers employed by TPD to respond to behavioral health-related calls for service. The behavioral health clinicians will ride-along with TPD officers to allow the simultaneous dispatch and arrival on the scene of mental health professionals and law enforcement. This unit will be a continuation of the Zepf Centers continuum of crisis services, allowing warm hand-offs from the co-responders to the Zepf Center's Crisis Stabilization Unit. Peer Recovery Specialist will be hired in the third year of the program to provide secondary crisis services and post-crisis intervention support. 

The co-responder program is specifically intended to benefit Toledo residents with a mental health disorder or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder experiencing a behavioral health crisis in the community. Additionally, the program will be designed to respond to the needs of individuals who frequently interface with the criminal legal, behavioral health, and homelessness systems. There are no planned conference activities for the recommended award.