Join as we host health care experts and police responders to talk about Treatment Not Trauma—a campaign to expand community-based mental health care in Chicago—and the City’s CARE program (Crisis Assistance Response & Engagement), which integrates mental health crisis response into the 9-1-1 system. Currently operating in seven police districts, including the one where Temple Sholom is located, CARE shifts responsibility for mental health crises away from police officers and toward teams of mental health and emergency medical professionals.

Across the country, a lack of appropriate crisis response systems means that many mental health crisis calls are routed to 9-1-1 and responded to by law enforcement. A recent review estimates that 6–10% of all police contacts with the public in the U.S. involve people with serious mental illness. Armed response can drastically escalate a situation, heighten tensions, and can even lead to fatalities. The risk of being killed by police is estimated to be 16 times greater for individuals with untreated mental illness than for other residents.

Why should we care?

Tens of thousands of distressed people—those living on our streets and those in their family homes—are sent to emergency departments or jails every year because of a shortage of mental health and crisis care. In these high-cost settings, people in crisis risk being further traumatized and/or criminalized. Treatment Not Trauma and CARE offer a different model: responsive help from trained professionals who meet people where they are. These approaches can improve outcomes for individuals and families and lower costs for all Chicagoans by reducing unnecessary emergency department visits and law enforcement involvement in mental health crises.

Currently, 22 members of the City Council (alders) have petitioned the Mayor to fund the expansion of CARE across all of Chicago.

We need systems that uphold the dignity, humanity, and safety of Chicagoans facing mental health struggles.

Join us in person at Temple Sholom or on Zoom on December 3, 6:30–8:00 pm, to learn about this vital program and how you can help ensure that all Chicagoans have access to compassionate crisis response.

Educational event produced by the Advocacy Committee and Sholom Justice