A Kennesaw State University research team is working to develop new systems and software that could help first responders better handle emergency calls for mental health issues in Georgia and beyond.
The idea began when Cobb Police and Fire recognized the need for help dealing with the overwhelming number of 911 calls they received about people in emotional distress.
“We met to better understand the scope of the issue they were facing and we’re shocked to learn that as much as 30 percent of the calls responded to by police could pertain to behavioral health and need some kind of follow-up. Almost 11 percent of those could require an immediate clinical intervention,” said Monica Nandan, professor of social work and human services and director of strategic partnerships and social impact in the Wellstar College of Health and Human Services.
Working with Cobb Police, Cobb Fire, local ambulance services, the Cobb County Crisis Intervention Team and county commissioners, the Kennesaw State research team are using anonymized police incident reports to create systems that will help evaluate calls and dispatch appropriate help.
“We know that many people in mental health crises end up in jails or in hospitals and the number of calls related to that put a lot of strain on first responders,” said Dominic Thomas, KSU associate professor of information systems. “We’re trying to streamline and improve all the systems, structures and workflows of behavioral health calls and hopefully direct more people into something like crisis counseling, which is a better outcome for everyone, rather than jail or the hospital.”
Software in development as part of the project will allow authorities to search reports by keywords, type of incident and more, making it easier to follow up on specific and pressing calls. According to Thomas, one of the team’s priorities is to set up an interactive dashboard for the 911 call centers that operators can use in real time to…
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