OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego City Common Council has approved an extension to a new partnership aimed at improving how police respond to mental health emergencies.
The agreement between the Oswego City Police Department and Helio Health will allow officers to continue working alongside mental health clinicians when responding to certain calls.
Officials say the program focuses on situations involving people experiencing mental health crises, homelessness, or critical trauma.
Oswego Police Chief Phil Cady says having a clinician respond directly to scenes helps provide the right kind of support.
“Our mental health clinician co-response program will respond to mental health calls, calls for homelessness, any calls with critical trauma,” Cady said.
Leaders say the partnership is part of a broader effort across Central New York to expand behavioral health services in emergency response.
Helio Health Senior Service Director Tania Lyons says the program adds another layer to traditional emergency services.
“You have your typical police, fire, EMS response. We now have behavioral services added to that,” Lyons said.
Cady says the department is also looking to expand the program by adding more clinicians in the future to improve response times.