Mobile Crisis Intervention – Brenton Gicker and Chelsea Swift

Doin’ The Work: Frontline Stories of Social Change

Episode 26
Guests: Brenton Gicker & Chelsea Swift
Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

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If you love what we discuss on the podcast, then you will love our courses! We focus on frameworks, knowledge, and skills to engage in anti-racist, anti-oppressive, justice-based liberatory practice. CEs are available. Check out https://dointhework.com/courses/ to learn more and register. We hope you will join us!

In this episode, I talk with Brenton Gicker and Chelsea Swift of CAHOOTS – Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets, a 24/7 mobile crisis intervention program of the White Bird Clinic in Eugene, Oregon. CAHOOTS, which pairs a mental health crisis worker and a medic in a big white van, has been receiving national attention as a model for a crisis response alternative to the police or fire department. Chelsea and Brenton share what a typical shift is like for them and how 911 calls are routed to them rather than the police for certain situations. We discuss the cost-effective approach of CAHOOTS as well as the humanitarian benefits, such as de-escalation and fewer arrests, by utilizing the skills of medical and mental health professionals rather than the police. Brenton and Chelsea both share how they got into this work, and how they began as crisis workers and then each decided to become medics, Brenton a registered nurse, and Chelsea an emergency medical technician. I hope this conversation inspires you to action.

www.whitebirdclinic.org/cahoots
Twitter: @WhiteBirdClinic
Facebook: www.facebook.com/WhiteBirdClinic