LACDMH’s Alternative Crisis Response (ACR) program launched an awareness campaign this month to make County residents aware of the Department’s non-law enforcement mental health crisis support teams. The campaign features members of the program’s Field Intervention Teams (FIT) to foster trust in the County’s first responders for mental health crisis support.
IDEO, an international design and innovation firm, designed the campaign that features a revamped webpage, public awareness videos available on YouTube, billboards, posters, and social media assets, highlighting FIT members who apply their skills and experience with mental health in helping individuals and families during a crisis.
The Department’s ACR team is a unique operation of field workers who are dispatched through the department’s 24/7 Help Line and 988. When appropriate, FIT members are called to a scene in pairs with one mental health clinician and one community health worker in plain clothes. Once on-site, the team engages with family members or loved ones to stabilize and de-escalate the situation.
The program is coming off its most successful year to date. In 2024, FIT members were dispatched 21,000 times which is up 35% from 2023 with 94% of those calls resolved without law enforcement involvement. To meet increasing Countywide demand for this resource, the ACR Program has doubled capacity over the last two years to include 71 FIT teams.
