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Mobile CARE team reports 98% diversion rate; Carrboro to join pilot with funded social‑worker position
Summary
County staff updated the joint meeting on the CARE (Crisis Assistance, Response and Engagement) mobile crisis team: a May 2024 start, evaluation by UNC’s Criminal Justice Innovation Lab, a 98% diversion rate from arrest/charge and plans for a Carrboro‑funded crisis counselor position to join the team.
Deputy Manager Kate Fenhagen reviewed the CARE (Crisis Assistance, Response and Engagement) mobile crisis pilot and told the joint meeting that Carrboro intends to fund a social‑worker position to integrate the town into the program.
Fenhagen said CARE started operations in May 2024 in Chapel Hill and is a mobile team designed to respond to 9‑1‑1 calls and other community requests that involve behavioral health, substance use or IDD concerns that do not require law enforcement or emergency medical transport. The core mobile unit includes a crisis counselor (social worker), a peer support specialist and a community EMT; a fourth clinician is embedded in the 9‑1‑1 center to take or divert appropriate calls.
Why it matters: the pilot replaces some law‑enforcement responses to behavioral health and low‑level incidents with non‑police, clinician‑led responses and is being evaluated by the UNC School of Government’s Criminal Justice Innovation Lab.
Fenhagen said the team has fielded 1,288 events through February and served 721 unique individuals; 203 calls came directly from 9‑1‑1. "The percentage of events that were diverted from an arrest or charge is 98 percent," she said. Transport to hospital for medical emergencies was 2.8 percent and transport for behavioral‑health emergencies was 3.7 percent. Fourteen 9‑1‑1 calls were diverted directly to an on‑duty clinician when the clinician was available.
The team is currently funded through June 30 by Alliance Health, and Fenhagen said grant conversations are underway for next fiscal year. She said Carrboro Manager and chief officials have requested that Carrboro join the CARE team; Carrboro has approved and posted a social‑worker position that Fenhagen said can be integrated into the pilot when the town is ready. Fenhagen said the pilot’s aim is eventual countywide coverage after the two‑year start‑up period and that staff would like to expand hours and add a second team to cover evenings and weekends.
Team members present in materials included the embedded 9‑1‑1 clinician Mary, peer support specialist Jennifer Melvin and EMT Aliyah. Fenhagen emphasized the program’s collaborative relationship with Chapel Hill Police and Emergency Services and noted the pilot’s role as one element — along with future crisis diversion facilities and other services — in a broader behavioral‑health response system.
