Travis County-funded crisis teams and diversion pilot sharply cut arrests and detentions but face capacity constraints

Integral Care officials told the Travis County Commissioners Court that county-funded crisis teams, 911-integrated clinicians and a new Therapeutic Diversion Program (TDP) have diverted most crisis encounters away from police response and emergency detention, producing large reductions in arrests and emergency detentions — but that limited bed capacity and a multi-week waitlist are constraining the program’s reach.

The briefing, delivered by Integral Care staff and program leads, focused on crisis-response expansions the county funds: an embedded 911 clinician program, field mobile crisis outreach teams (EMCOT/MCOT), a Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) diversion pilot and the Therapeutic Diversion Program, a 25‑bed crisis respite facility built to provide alternatives to incarceration.

Integral Care described strong program outcomes and operational limits. Marissa Malik, director of crisis services and justice initiatives at Integral Care, said the EMCOT field team “received over 3,000 dispatches with over 90% of those outcomes diverted from incarceration, emergency department admissions, as well as the police officers emergency detention.” Malik also said clinicians in the 911 center handled almost 5,000 calls with roughly 80% diverted from police response. She…