Recorded live: Q&A on public safety, mental health & Olympia’s Crisis Response Unit

UPDATE 10/13: The Olympian has been informed that one of the scheduled panelists, Deputy Chief Sam Costello, will not be able to attend.

As police departments across Washington pull back from engaging in mental health and social welfare calls, there are new and greater mental health care challenges.

In Olympia, those challenges are being met by the Crisis Response Unit, a community outreach program within the Olympia Police Department.

The unit works alongside police, but not always directly with officers.

As new accountability legislation passed in 2021 accelerates shifts in policing that were already underway, Washington cities may look to programs like Olympia’s as a model for how to respond to people in crisis.

You can explore this issue with the unit’s head, Olympia Police Department’s Outreach Services Coordinator Anne Larsen, and Director of Operations for our local NAMI chapter Marilyn Roberts in a conversation and Q&A moderated by The Olympian’s Brandon Block at noon Oct. 14 at TheOlympian.com.

The Crisis Response Unit provides free, confidential, voluntary crisis response assistance. The goal is to identify people with chronic mental health disorders and substance abuse disorders.

The program offers crisis and housing counseling, conflict resolution and transportation services.

Want to ask a question? Just RSVP at this link for free.

Anne Larsen, Olympia Police Department outreach director, Crisis Unit leader.

Marilyn Roberts, operations director for Thurston and Mason NAMI chapter.

Moderated by Brandon Block, The Olympian’s housing and homelessness reporter.

This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 12:47 PM.