Meet Our County's New Crisis Intervention Team
A new partnership in Muskegon County is committed to transforming the way crises are responded to in Muskegon County. This partnership, the Muskegon County Crisis Intervention Team, comprises numerous behavioral health organizations, law enforcement agencies, emergency medical first responders, and corrections officials.

This new team utilizes the Crisis Intervention Team International model, an evidence-based program that develops cohesive partnerships across systems to secure an effective response to people experiencing a behavioral health crisis while increasing safety for officers and the community.

The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model has two basic goals:
  • Develop the most compassionate and effective crisis response system that is the least intrusive in a person's life.
  • Help people with mental disorders and/or addictions access medical/mental health treatment rather than place them in the criminal justice system due to illness-related behaviors.

This program helps officers identify someone experiencing a behavioral health crisis and assists them in developing the skills they need to defuse the situation to find help for the person in crisis.

But the CIT approach is more than just another piece of training. It's an overarching philosophy that seeks to improve the health outcomes for all of our county's residents and provide a better quality of life for our entire community by developing a cohesive cross-system approach that addresses the immediate needs of individuals in crisis and long-term solutions focused on systems change. It also creates a more fiscally-sound approach for the criminal justice and behavioral health systems by diverting individuals from jail and emergency room visits and providing effective connections to treatment.

Starting in 2020, with Bureau of Justice funding, Muskegon County's Crisis Intervention Team has created real change within Muskegon County. Keep reading to learn more about some of the fantastic results already achieved by this groundbreaking partnership.
Back to Basics: Learning How to Respond as a CIT Community
Becoming an effective Crisis Intervention Team does not happen by simply receiving a grant or creating a logo. Implementing these new skills in the field takes time and practice.

HealthWest and its law enforcement partners have developed a series of trainings to help law enforcement officers, other first responders and behavioral health workers put these new skills to use.

Starting with a goal of training 20% of Muskegon County's law enforcement officers (or 80 officers), already 86 officers have participated in CIT training, with more training sessions being added regularly.

CIT training, a 40-hour specialized course of both classroom study and scenario-based training, prepares officers to more effectively identify a person requiring treatment and develop partnerships to co-respond in solving the crisis.

This training supports 911/dispatch, police, corrections, EMS, fire, emergency room personnel, behavioral health professionals and all of our partners to recognize a person requiring care, understand how to partner to access this care, and work cohesively to care for this individual or family in follow-up by utilizing both voluntary and involuntary treatment interventions.

In addition to CIT training, 90% of all law enforcement officers in Muskegon County have received some form of specialized behavioral health training.

Learning these new skills, however, isn't just limited to law enforcement officers. Department of Natural Resources conservation officers, parole officers and EMS personnel have also participated in CIT training.

Meanwhile, behavioral health workers are participating in a new Cop Culture training.

Cop Culture training is a 16-hour course facilitated by law enforcement officials that focuses on the history and overview of CIT, history of law enforcement, bias and expectations of policing, understanding law enforcement training (including use of force), understanding life-and-death decision making, working together in the field, and scenario-based training.

So far, more than 70 behavioral health workers and other community partners have participated in Cop Culture training.
Working to change the relationship between behavioral health and law enforcement
The Crisis Intervention Team of Muskegon County is also working to change behavioral health and law enforcement culture by strengthening the support for law enforcement agencies and first responders.

This work includes the creation of multiple committees and workgroups that help law enforcement and other agencies that are working to implement Crisis Intervention Team goals, including the creation of a:

Operations Work Group: A bi-weekly, multi-disciplinary work group focused on creative responses to individuals struggling to engage in recovery while routinely accessing high-level resources. Opportunities resulting from this group include co-responding follow-up contacts with individuals and multi-disciplinary groups that include law enforcement, EMS, and others engaged in treatment planning.

Policy Coordinating Group: A group focused on empowering and supporting law enforcement agencies, first responders (including 911 dispatch), EMS/medical authority, fire, and behavioral health providers across the community to develop policies and procedures that guide crisis response.

Training Committee: A group that coordinates CIT training and other specialized training opportunities for law enforcement officers, first responders and behavioral health professionals.

Community Corrections Group: A group working to ensure access to care for individuals on bond, probation, and parole while creatively resolving incidents of violation from a diversion strength-based philosophy.

Executive Committee: A group focused on problem-solving and system change.
Muskegon County's Crisis Intervention Team Partners

All Muskegon County police agencies, including:
Muskegon PD
North Muskegon PD
Muskegon Heights PD
Muskegon Township PD
Norton Shores PD
Roosevelt Park PD
Fruitport Twp. PD
Whitehall PD
Montague PD
Muskegon County Sheriff
Michigan State Police
DNR
MDHHS
State Probation/Parole
District Court Probation
Muskegon Co. Prosecutor
Muskegon Co. Public Defender
All Muskegon County
Fire Departments
White Lake EMS
ProMed
Trinity Health Partners
Senior Resources/Age Well Services
Pace Life Circles
Every Woman’s Place
Catholic Charities West Michigan
Fresh Coast Alliance
Life Align
Citi Boi
Family Outreach Center
And more!
Crisis Intervention Team In Action: Putting the Training to Use
Training doesn't do much if it never gets used.

Luckily, that's not a problem in Muskegon County, as our law enforcement partners are fully committed to the Crisis Intervention Team model and have used their new tools.

Law enforcement partners have made 1,786 referrals for behavioral health services since the start of FY2022 on Oct. 1, 2021.

Only 64 of these referrals, or less than 4%, ended with an arrest or detention at the county jail/juvenile detention center. Meanwhile, 202 referrals accessed HealthWest's mobile mental health crisis response services.

Law enforcement agencies from across the county have participated in the program, with 14 agencies making referrals to behavioral services this fiscal year.

Norton Shores Police Department has found the program so critical that it has brought on its own full-time officer just to handle behavioral health-related situations.
Working Together to Fight Addiction and Save Lives
In the past decade, there have been more than 500 drug-related deaths and countless non-fatal drug overdoses in Muskegon County.

Muskegon County's Crisis Intervention Team is now working to become a crucial tool in the community's fight against substance abuse.

Law enforcement officers have made 265 behavioral health referrals following drug use contacts since October 1, 2021. These referrals help connect individuals with vital services that could prevent future overdoses and even save their lives.

Meanwhile, HealthWest is launching a new partnership with the local ambulance authorities to better coordinate responses following a non-fatal drug overdose. These new partnerships will allow behavioral health workers to connect directly with individuals who experienced a non-fatal overdose and quickly connect them to services.
Helping Those Who are Incarcerated Find a New Path Forward
In some cases, jail diversion just isn't possible and individuals end up incarcerated. However, this doesn't mean that the Crisis Intervention Team's work is finished.

Muskegon County's Crisis Intervention Team is working to ensure individuals in custody at the Muskegon County Jail can connect with services to improve their lives upon release and reduce recidivism.

COVID-19 presented the team with a unique set of challenges by drastically shifting the jail environment and limiting in-person interactions. However, the team responded by quickly introducing technology upgrades that helped keep inmates connected with critical services.

The team used Zoom and iPads to identify inmates with mental health and/or substance use concerns and refer them to trained behavioral health personnel. These behavioral health professionals provided screenings and assessments, which resulted in voluntary treatment and services for individuals in pre-trial custody and those sentenced to jail.

So far, 105 people have been screened and 77 have received care, including discharge planning and community re-entry support.
New Grant will Help Expand Work of Crisis Intervention Team
On Aug. 17, HealthWest obtained a $750,726 grant that will help continue and expand these partnerships.

These funds, which came from the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Site-based Program awarded to the Michigan State Police Grants and Community Services Division from the U.S. Department of Justice - Bureau of Justice Assistance, will allow a full-time behavioral health professional and recovery coach to be embedded directly in the Muskegon Heights Police Department.

Following this addition, there will be three full-time behavioral health professionals embedded in police departments within Muskegon County.
Want more info? Email community.relations@healthwest.net