Rob Crisp, a peer support specialist with the Holistic Empathetic Assistance Response Team (HEART) program, responds to a call for a wellness check at a parking lot in Durham, N.C., on Sept. 14.

Rob Crisp, a peer support specialist with the Holistic Empathetic Assistance Response Team (HEART) program, responds to a call for a wellness check at a parking lot in Durham, N.C., on Sept. 14.

Alternative response programs, where mental health clinicians respond to 911 calls instead of police, have proliferated since George Floyd’s murder. What does it take to do this work well?

(Image credit: Cornell Watson for NPR)

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