Pittsfield Establishes 'HUB' to Better Assist People in Crisis
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city has taken cues from another community in the commonwealth to address individuals and families in crisis.
On Monday, the Pittsfield Police Department announced the establishment of a Pittsfield HUB, which is a pooling of social services and police that meet virtually every other week to review cases of mental illness, substance abuse, poverty, and other issues that plague the area.
It is based on the Chelsea Police Department's hub that has reportedly made a great impact in the comparable city.
"The Department has been exploring the development of a HUB Table for several years. When residents are in crisis, the first call made is often to the police. Unfortunately, the police are not always the best-equipped agency to deal with the situation," Police Chief Michael Wynn wrote to iBerkshires in an email.
"By partnering with our community partners to form the Pittsfield HUB table we've been able to form a multidisciplinary team that can come together to develop collaborative solutions quickly and efficiently. We're confident that we can work together to deliver better outcomes for our most vulnerable residents.
"I'm proud of the team that we've assembled to participate in this project and grateful for the support and collaboration that we've received from our partners."
The initiative was created by the city in collaboration with about 20 other service providers and government agencies — including the PPD — and is being led by the Police Department.
Participants cover the whole range of services that the county has to offer. These include the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office, the Berkshire County Sheriff's Department, Berkshire Health Systems, the Brien Center, ServiceNet, the state Department of Children and Families, and Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority.
"I thank the City of Pittsfield and the Pittsfield Police Department for bringing this highly successful model to Berkshire County," District Attorney Andrea Harrington said.
"My office is a proud partner in creating compassionate responses to poverty, substance use disorder, and mental illness instead of relying on a punitive criminal legal system. This approach uplifts the most vulnerable members of our community by treating people with dignity."
To identify persons or families who are at acute elevated risk, or AER, while being compliant with medical privacy regulations, the HUB uses a model that sends referrals through four filters to protect personal information and privacy.
Planning for the HUB started last fall and it began work in January.
Seven situations have been reviewed since mid-January and though it is too early to make a determination of outcomes, Wynn said residents are receiving access to resources that they may not have previously.
In a press release, Capt. Thomas Dawley said this is a positive solution to help individuals and families that are at this acute elevated risk of harm. He added that this is not a solely police-based organization but another piece of a larger community safety model designed to respond proactively to community need, support the city, and reduce the burden on the criminal justice system.
In January, Director of Community Development Justine Dodds (former Community Development & Housing program manager) told the Homelessness Advisory Committee that she had been participating in conversations led by the Pittsfield Police Department on the initiative based on Chelsea's hub.
She told the committee that Chelsea's police department has a "constant cycle of individuals falling through the cracks and responding to disasters and emergencies on an emergency basis," similar to Pittsfield.
Tags: social services,
