By Jennifer Bailey
Communities are expanding alternatives for people experiencing mental health crises.Police-based programs such as the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) initiatives can give people entering the criminal justice system a path to treatment and support.
However, some communities are implementing an approach that does not involve law enforcement.
The Sequential Intercept Model is a framework that identifies where individuals with mental health and substance use disorders come into contact with the criminal justice system and where they can be diverted to clinical care.
The model identifies six points, or “intercepts,” starting with community services and continuing through law enforcement, courts, jails, reentry, probation, and parole.
The framework is intended to help communities identify service gaps and strengthen behavioral health responses outside traditional policing.
In practice, some cities are using this model’s earlier intercepts to reshape local emergency dispatch. Denver’s Support Team Assisted Response Program, known as STAR, is one example. STAR dispatches mental health practitioners and EMTs or paramedics to nonviolent situations, prioritizing de-escalation and connections to mental health services.
By deploying clinicians and EMS personnel instead of police, this model aims to intervene before an arrest is made, at Intercept 0. Denver established STAR in 2020.
“We are trying to get people connected to the resources and services they need, so they do not call 911 because of a crisis,” said Tandis Hashemi, STAR’s operations manager. “We are not under the same time constraints as law enforcement or EMS. So we’re able to spend as much time as we need to support an individual who’s in crisis to really build that rapport, provide the de-escalation, and get them to a place where they’re collaboratively working with us on what it is that needs to happen next.”
The team rides together in a van dispatched by Denver 911 to calls that do not require traditional law enforcement. “When our responders make contact with someone in need of additional resources that go beyond what would be provided on scene, they submit a referral to our case managers,” Hashemi said.
The emphasis on continuous care has sparked similar initiatives across the country, including Psychiatric Mobile Response Teams (PMRT) in Los Angeles, B-Heard in New York, and Portland Street Response (PSR) in Portland, Oregon.
Research also points to the potential of continuous care models. A January 2026 report by the Urban Institute examined the STAR program’s performance from 2020 through September 2024 alongside co-responder interventions, which pair a police officer and a mental health clinician.
The report found that while both initiatives reduced criminal justice system involvement, STAR participants were more likely to receive follow-up clinical care.
Between April 2023 and September 2024, STAR made 1,357 referrals and served 1,221 clients. From 2020 through September 2024, STAR received roughly 50,000 calls. The data also showed capacity limits: STAR vans answered 23,114 of those calls, leaving the remainder to traditional police units, according to the report. Despite those capacity challenges, Hashemi said the program remains focused on diversion.
“Our primary focus is diverting people from unnecessary interactions with the criminal justice system and from unnecessary emergency department visits,” Hashemi said, adding that the goal is to connect people to appropriate resources so they no longer rely on emergency services. Programs such as STAR can help some people receive behavioral health support without entering the criminal justice system.
The Urban Institute report said that both law enforcement and nonpolice programs remain parts of community crisis response. As more communities explore clinical crisis-response models, experts say long-term stability will require sustained funding and policy changes.
For Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, the question is whether crisis response can include both public safety and clinical care without routing every call through law enforcement.
Jennifer Bailey is a licensed clinical social worker and registered drama therapist.
