The city of Rochester’s Person in Crisis Team is expanding with seven new “peer navigators,” which are being added using funding from the state.
The PIC team sends crisis counselors to respond to incidents involving mental health substance use issues. The peer navigators its adding using $2 million in state money are meant to be people with lived experience who can help better serve people on the street.
“We do believe that our PIC team members are definitely very relatable,” said Alia Henton-Williams, manager of the city’s Crisis Intervention Services Unit. “They’re from the community, they’re neighbors, they’re pumping gas next to you, you might see them in the grocery store. But peer navigators bring something different and special to community members, because they can directly relate to a lot of what we see community members are dealing with.”
PIC was formed in early 2021 following the death of Daniel Prude in March 2020. Prude was in the middle of a mental health crisis when Rochester police officers restrained him. He vomited and lost consciousness, and died a week later at Strong Memorial Hospital
The PIC Team was awarded the funding for peer navigators as part of a state pilot program, That effort aims to create a network of crisis response teams.
Central Nassau Guidance & Counseling Services and Children’s Home of Jefferson County were also awarded $2 million each to support their efforts in the pilot funding.
Prude was naked and acting erratically when police found him on Jefferson Avenue on a cold March night. The images of him restrained with a cloth “spit hood” placed over his head became an enduring image that sparked protest, the firing of a police chief, and calls to change how police respond to mental health crisis.
It also led advocates and lawmakers to rally for the passage of Daniel’s Law at the state level.
Sen. Samra Brouk originally introduced legislation to establish Daniel’s Law in 2021 and he reintroduced it every session since. That bill, which has never made it out of committee, would establish a statewide emergency and crisis response council. It would work with local governments to help them develop “preventive, rehabilitative, crisis response, and treatment services”.
Brouk said while the bill is pending, the pilot funding is a good start.
“The statewide enthusiasm for creating non-police, peer-led compassionate responses to individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis is encouraging, and we must build upon this momentum,” Brouk said, in a statement. “… I am grateful that the city of Rochester was selected as a recipient of this award and has the opportunity to prevent tragedies like the loss of Daniel Prude’s life.”
The PIC Team has received over 30,000 calls since its launch in 2021, the vast majority of them originating from calls to 911, according to data from the city. Sometimes the staff responds with the Rochester Police Department, and other times on their own.
Of the calls, 7,058 led to a medical health transport; 1,162 resulted in a person being transported somewhere else; and only 160 involved a person declining services. Across all those calls, 55 people were arrested during a PIC response, or about .2%.
“We would like for the numbers to be zero, but one of the two goals that were put into place when the Person in Crisis Team was implemented was to lower the number of arrests for those having a crisis, as well as to lower the hospitalizations or emergency room visits, and so we’re definitely pleased about those numbers,” Henton-Williams said.
The funding for the additional peer navigators is included in the proposed city budget for next year. City Council members will vote on that budget this month.