In Josie McCarthy’s 17 years as a program manager at The Dining Room, she says she has never needed to call police to break up violence or disputes. The dine-in restaurant serves 1,000 meals per week to low-income and unhoused people in downtown Eugene, Oregon. Servers deliver steaming plates of food to booths and counter seats inside the cozy, colorful building.
But when a diner refuses to leave, shows up without shoes, or is disoriented or agitated, McCarthy has options. She can either use her training as a social worker to resolve the situation or she can request backup from the city’s mobile intervention unit called Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (CAHOOTS).
“Many struggle with mental wellness, and we depend on CAHOOTS whenever one of our guests is in crisis,” McCarthy said in an email.
She adds, “Just because you’re mentally ill doesn’t mean you’re a criminal.”
Available 24/7, CAHOOTS offers counseling, conflict resolution and mediation, information and referral, transportation to social services, first aid, basic-level emergency medical care and more. While many communities dispatch a police officer as the de facto response to a mental health crisis, this program in Eugene sends two-person teams of crisis workers and medics as an alternative. Employees wear polos and sweatshirts rather than bulletproof vests and guns, and they have no authority to arrest or ticket someone.
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