Just Alternative Crisis Response: One Community’s Experience

Original Release Date: February 26, 2021

In episode six of the 2021 Illicit Substance Use Response season, Just Science interviews Tim Black of the White Bird Clinic in Eugene, Oregon about the CAHOOTS program, a community-based public safety model that provides mental health first response for crises involving mental illness, homelessness, and substance use disorder.

In 1989, the White Bird Clinic in Eugene, Oregon launched the Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets program, otherwise known as the CAHOOTS program. The CAHOOTS program provides 24/7 mobile crisis intervention services to those in need, including people experiencing homelessness or living with mental health conditions.

Tim Black has been working with young people experiencing homelessness long before joining CAHOOTS in 2010. Now, he continues to help build the CAHOOTS program locally and nationally as the Director of Consulting at the White Bird Clinic. Listen along as our guest discusses the CAHOOTS model, community based public safety, and alternative models for crisis response in this episode of Just Science.

This season is in collaboration with the Bureau of Justice Assistance Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program funding to respond to illicit substance use and misuse in order to reduce overdose deaths, promote public safety, and support access to services.