CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Chicago’s mental health budget has increased dramatically since 2019: from $12 million to $89 million. And officials are trying to figure out how to best address one of the city’s most visible signs of mental illness.
It’s called the CARE program - Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement - and it started last September - where mental health professionals were included in the emergency response to some calls in Lakeview and in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood.
The health department’s deputy commissioner of behavioral health, Matthew Richards, said those teams have responded to more than 200 calls so far - with no use of force or arrests.
He gives one recent example.
“We had a resident that was experiencing a mental health crisis in the bathroom of a business.
“Customers were in distress. Staff were in distress.
“But what was great about this situation was that the staff in this place of business were familiar with the CARE program, and so they called 9-1-1 and actually requested our team,” Richards said.
He said the alternate response program is expanding soon to the Southwest Side.
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The city is also concerned about the mental health of the city’s homeless. A particular group that they are focused on are “continuous riders”: the people who ride and sleep on the CTA.
“It’s an ongoing challenge and I think it has become more visible,” said Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Awady.
“People often don’t feel compassion when they’re seeing somebody with a severe mental illness, especially on their morning commute.
“We are funding and working with partners on what does this look like…more to kind of do some outreach and get more resources sort of into CTA,” Arwaday said.
But, Dr. Arwady said it’s an ongoing conversation.
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