Future of emergency response being reshaped by mental health responders
By Brittney Ermon, via KSTP, July 2025
Watch the video segment here.
Mental health responders are reshaping the future of emergency response in Minneapolis, and the city said it’s working.
The city’s Behavioral Crisis Response (BCR) team, led by Canopy Roots, launched in 2021 and they’re seeing results. The team’s mission was driven by community feedback.
The focus is to reduce the number of deadly encounters during 911 mental health calls by responding without weapons and specialized mental health training.
“The feedback is consistently good feedback,” Cherie Hanson, Canopy Roots behavioral crisis response program manager, said. “What’s unique about this program is our focus on being prepared to support folks from diverse communities, so our responders are trained and supported in being knowledgeable about all the cultures and different people groups that live in the city, and we have the skills to meet people where they are.”
Since the rollout in 2021, out of 30,000 calls, there have been no serious injuries to the responders or the people they’ve served, according to the organization.
“We are trying to preserve life as we address the community needs,” Hanson said.
“How does this impact crime in the community and the Minneapolis Police Department?” asked Brittney Ermon, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reporter.
“We have the ability to take the calls that we are trained best to do. That probably allows police officers, in many circumstances, to be able to show for the calls that they are trained most for,” Hanson explained.
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS did a ride-along with BCR responders on Thursday afternoon.
911 calls trigger sirens and flashing lights, but this team of mental health responders is cutting through the noise with silence.
“We give our recipients the space and the autonomy to accept help,” Elias Rosas-Lee, Canopy Roots behavioral crisis response team, said.
The Minneapolis Behavioral Crisis Response team meets residents in their darkest moments, armed with empathy and guided by hope.
“Specifically, he [the patient] has schizophrenia, having anxiety and paranoia,” Rosas-Lee told us while reading notes from dispatch.
On this emergency call, we witnessed a man at home in mental distress.
“Sometimes a little sunlight can help your mood,” David Ruth, Canopy Roots Behavioral Crisis Response team member, told the recipient. “We want you to have a life that you feel is worth living.”
The team of responders worked through trauma by de-escalation and meeting people where they are.
“What can you do with the skills we’ve learned and built together?” Rosas-Lee asked the recipient.
When the calm sets in, the call wraps up.
“Making sure that we have met his needs, validating his emotions and how he’s feeling in this moment,” Rosas-Lee said.
The team can’t control how it ends, so they focus on how to respond.
“We just have to be patient. We try to plant little seeds that we have with each individual,” Ruth said after the call. “You hope for the best at the end of the day.”
The Canopy Roots BCR team has seen interest in other cities to adopt the concept. They’re heading another pilot program in Brooklyn Center, which began in March.
Minneapolis Community Safety Commissioner Toddrick Barnette released a statement regarding the BCR team’s success:
“Our innovative Behavioral Crisis Response (BCR) teams are critical to delivering the equitable service our residents deserve. They have been dispatched by Minneapolis 911 to more than 30,000 calls since 2021, responding in ways that can fully meet the needs of that person or family. Arriving as peers and fellow community members, these highly trained mental health practitioners and professionals provide needed culturally-specific responsive crisis intervention, counseling, and support assistance. BCR teams represent preventive, responsive and sometimes, restorative services, emblematic of both the concept of the community safety ecosystem and the importance of a community working together for a safer Minneapolis.”