COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus could soon become the next community that changes the way it responds to mental health emergencies.
An issue on the May ballot is putting it in the hands of voters to determine new tactics and teams to potentially help, and save lives.
What You Need To Know
Columbus voters will decide whether to approve Issue 5 during the May primary
It would allow the city to send mental health professionals to non-violent mental health-related calls, sometimes in place of police
Officials say the issue will not raise taxes for community members
Chana Wiley, co-chair of Columbus Safety Collective Campaign, said when her brother Jaron Thomas died in 2017, it’s a day she’ll never forget.
“He ended up on life support for a week or so before he passed away,” Wiley said.
Thomas called the police during a mental health crisis, hoping to receive help. Instead, he died in police custody. Wiley said if mental health professionals responded to the scene instead, her brother might still be alive.
“He only needed help. He did not need to be criminalized or victimized for needing that type of help,” said Wiley.
It’s why she and many others are hoping voters approve Issue 5 in Columbus when they head to the polls next week. It would allow the city to send mental health professionals to non-violent mental health-related calls, sometimes in place of police, to address the need from another angle.
“The last place people that are battling substance abuse or mental health crisis, the last place they belong is hospitals and jails. We think this issue will continue that progress and continue to make sure we’re getting the right response for folks when they need it,” said Mayor Andrew Ginther, D-Columbus.
A similar system, operating for a few years now in northeast Ohio, is finding success. The First CALL program team is made up of behavioral health clinicians and peer support staff who are dispatched to mental health distress and substance use disorder calls.
They currently operate in Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, South Euclid, Richmond Heights and University Heights with plans to expand.
“Our program is able to bring a mental health professional on scene, so somebody who went to school for this or has training, or different experience and can provide some of that expertise on that call and give that person kind of what they’re looking for right now here in the moment,” said Annette Wallace, First CALL Program Coordinator.
Wiley hopes to see similar success here in Columbus, hopeful it will prevent what happened to her brother from happening to anyone else.
“Often times when we experience over policing, or police violence, or any form of state violence, we don’t get accountability, we don’t get justice and I think that the system needs to change, and the people of Columbus think the same thing,” said Wiley.
Issue 5 was launched through the efforts of the Columbus Safety Collective. The issue has not received significant organized opposition. Officials say the issue will not raise taxes for community members and that if passed, city council will determine how to fund it.