ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The St. Petersburg City Council voted on Thursday to renew and expand a program that helps police divert mental health calls to a social worker.
It's called the Community Assistance and Life Liasion program, or CALL, and it was started in early 2021 after protests and demands for police reform across the country.
Emergency calls that are non-violent and non-criminal can be diverted to a navigator or social worker that deals with mental health issues or youth-related calls to help resolve the situation and even provide follow-up care. Many times, they don't need to involve law enforcement.
The CALL program will be given an additional $400,000, bringing its annual funding to roughly $1.7 million, allowing it to hire more workers and expand its hours.
Megan McGee is with the St. Pete Police Administrative Services Bureau and helped spearhead the program.
"They're able to spend more time with the individuals trying to problem solve, providing referrals, linkage to services. We have a clinical component as well for additional mental health and crisis response," she said.
McGee said that the program has been extremely successful and even exceeded expectations. She explained how the program will use the extra funds to continue helping the community.
"Currently we are 8 a.m. to midnight, 7 days a week. This would move services until 2 a.m. That would be an expansion of services as well and we are adding additional staff. We're adding a navigator pair and a clinical-level supervisor," she said.
The additional funding would also allow the program to provide supplemental items for people on calls who might need them.
"That can be anything from bus passes to hygiene items that the navigators are able to provide in the community," McGee added.
Leaders will the CALL program would also like to have their own office space.
The CALL program is a partnership with Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services.