AUSTIN, Texas - The city of Austin is transforming how it responds to mental health crises.

A first-of-its-kind pilot program is designed to reach people in crisis early, before situations escalate.

Austin FIRST

The backstory:

"We’re the first entity in the United States that we know of that's bringing this team together for these high acuity incidents," said Dr. Mark Escott, City of Austin Chief Medical Officer.

The Austin Police Department, Integral Care, and Austin-Travis County EMS are teaming up to respond to high-acuity or potentially dangerous mental health calls downtown.

"These are incidents where individuals are experiencing a mental health crisis and there's some significant agitation or some concern or threat of violence. This team is able to respond to this together,"

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