When a job opened up on a new team responding to substance use and mental health crises on the streets of Salem, Nate Okada responded. He had been looking to do more community outreach work. Okada applied to be a mental health associate on a newly formed REACH, proposed by the Salem Fire Depar tment and supplemented by Marion County. Okada previously worked as a temp for Marion County’s crisis response team.Now, Okada is using his training in de-escalation to help people in a mental health crisis.  The goal of REACH – which stands for Rapid Engagement, Assessment and Community Health Team – is to improve mental health situations for people in crisis and reduce the need for police and firefighters to respond. Many of the city’s mental health crisis calls involve substance use and the local unhoused population. “I really hope that this message gets out to a lot of people, because what I’ve experienced is that a lot of people do need this kind of response, other than a police response or even a paramedic response,” Okada  said. “Mental health issues are very common around the Salem area, and I think that just getting somebody to different resources like (Marion County’s crisis center), or even just to talk to someone so they don’t need to go to the hospital or something, would be very significant.” The team’s first day began with a press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 20, hosted at Salem fire’s downtown headquarters.  The team is part of the city’s efforts to confront homelessness, mental health challenges and substance use through a $626,000 funding package that expanded two city teams and funded the new team. Staffed by a city paramedic, a medic and a Marion County mental health professional, the team will handle the high volume of 911 calls related to mental health challenges and substance use. The three team members received more than 30 hours in behavioral health training, specifically on calming crisis situations, providing care while preventing further trauma and referring people to  community resources, according to an agreement between the two agencies. “Together, they engage individuals early, connect them with the right services and help break the cycle of repeated emergency calls,” Salem Fire Chief David Gerboth said Tuesday. Gerboth, who proposed the team last year, saw success in a similar program he oversaw while working as an assistant fire chief in San Diego, Salem Reporter previously reported. The city has been working with Marion County for several months to establish the partnership, and Marion County officials also spoke at the team’s launch. “The work we’re talking about is not owned by any one department. It’s something that we share. Across Marion County, we’re seeing more people experience crisis in public spaces. These are moments that often involve mental health challenges, substance use and other unmet health needs,” Debbie Wells, director of Marion County’s Behavioral Health Crisis Services Division said. “For community members, these situations can feel frightening and frustrating … for individuals experiencing them, they’re often moments of deep vulnerability. These situations are serious and often require a different kind of response.” Wells said the team is trained to “de-escalate crisis situations,” build rapport with people in the community and to connect those with behavioral health needs with ongoing support. The team’s success will be measured by the decrease in repeated 911 calls for the same person, according to Gerboth. Other success measures include the number of emergency room visits by individuals and how many are placed in shelters or facilities, including Marion County’s crisis center, he said. He also said the team’s work could reduce the deployment of fire department machinery and allow for Salem’s crews to be more readily available for other emergencies. Gerboth is optimistic the team will exist beyond the six-month pilot, he said. City officials are eyeing federal grants to extend the team’s funding, Gerboth said.  Salem City Councilor Vanessa Nordyke, who has long supported bringing a crisis response team to the city, said that each team member will be saving lives through their work. She told Salem Reporter that she hopes the pilot brings a “cultural mindshift” to Salem, where people can expect a follow-through response to crisis situations. “Because even though we increase shelter, we increase case managers, we increase affordable housing, we found new pathways for people to end homelessness, something was missing from this equation, and that was the REACH team,” she said at the launch. Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell said she is grateful for the three team members who took on the job while working in an already taxed field of emergency response. Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected]. LOCAL NEWS DELIVERED TO YOU: Subscribe to Salem Reporter and get all the fact-based Salem news that matters to you. Fair, accurate, trusted – SUBSCRIBE. The post Salem launches REACH Team to respond to mental health, substance crises appeared first on Salem Reporter. ...read more read less