Springfield-Greene County 9-1-1 partners with Burrell Behavioral Health

A three-team partnership will help make sure Greene County residents have the right person to talk to in a moment of crisis. 

Burrell Behavioral Health reached agreements with Greene County and with the City of Springfield for a Burrell 988 crisis specialist to work inside the Springfield-Greene County 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Department on a full-time basis.  

Burrell Southwest Region Director of Crisis Services Natasha Corkins says 988 crisis specialists are equipped to handle calls from individuals experiencing behavioral health crisis events but may not need intervention from emergency responders. 

“We want to increase diversion efforts and decrease the number of responses from police to individuals who are experiencing mental health crises — things we are trained specifically to respond to,” Corkins said. 

A 988/9-1-1 committee took charge of educating leaders in 9-1-1 dispatch centers across Missouri. In Springfield, the first 988 crisis specialist to co-locate their workspace in the 9-1-1 center will work weekday afternoons and evenings.  

“It’s real-time communication between teams,” Corkins said. “It’s a way for us to lean into communicating, get to know each other, learn how we are trained, what kind of calls we get and what kind of calls they get. They get to see our skills in action.” 

A Springfield-Greene County 9-1-1 telecommunicator can transfer calls to Burrell Behavioral Health crisis specialists at any hour of the day. 

“We’re teaching our 9-1-1 telecommunicators that not all callers want a law enforcement response and may need resources or to speak with a 988 crisis specialist to assist with mental health needs, such as an altered mental state, or suicidal thoughts where they have not acted on or harmed themselves,” Springfield-Greene County 9-1-1 Director April Ford said. “We will request the caller’s permission to get a 988 crisis specialist on the line with us for calls that meet this criteria.”  

In Greene County, 9-1-1 telecommunicators are employed by the City of Springfield but work in a building the Greene County government owns. The partnership between the city and the county meant Burrell Behavioral Health needed to reach memorandum of understanding agreements with both governments before any Burrell employees could work from the 9-1-1 operations center. 

“We spent hours collaborating on training for 9-1-1 staff with Burrell and developing a procedure for 9-1-1 calls to be diverted to Burrell with the caller's permission,” Ford said. 

Ford is also the chairperson of the Missouri 9-1-1 Service Board Training Committee. 

“So far, it’s been really beneficial,” Ford said. “They get to see how each other works and how they can collaborate and help each other. The 988 crisis specialist on site is already engaged in conversations with our team about different resources that Burrell has access to that we didn’t even know Burrell could help with.” 

There are still cases where it’s best to call 9-1-1 immediately.  

“If they need a response from public safety, they need to call 9-1-1,” Ford said. “If they are not sure where they are located, they need to call 9-1-1 because we are still the only ones that have the ability to find a caller.”  

Overall, this partnership has been beneficial to Springfield-Greene County 9-1-1 and Burrell Behavioral Health in their mutual mission to serve Springfield and Greene County, officials with the two organizations look forward to hearing success stories of individuals who received care, assistance, or responses from either service.