St. Paul scrapping mental health outreach program

ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul is dropping a program that's helped thousands of people in need.

Mental health providers will no longer work with police to follow up on 911 calls to connect people in need to resources.

The Community Outreach and Stabilization Unit, or COAST, handles about 1,700 cases a year.

They work with emergency callers dealing with issues like mental health, homelessness or addiction.

The city's scrapping COAST in hopes of providing those same services more efficiently, without overlapping agencies.

St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry was asked about the move at a city council budget meeting Wednesday.

"I kind of make it akin to: we had a little house, and that family grew and we kept doing add-ons, and now we have that bigger house, but it's kind of disjointed," Henry said. "It wasn't put together in a really thoughtful way, so we realized probably the best answer is we tear the house down and build it the way it should be."

Specifics of the new system that will start next year appear to still be getting ironed out.

Sue Abderholden with the National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota is concerned that if city employees take on more of this kind of work instead of contracted providers, people's private information won't be protected as well.

The city says that's precisely one of the reasons for making a change.

"We don't need to know the details of their medical condition," said St. Paul Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher. "We do need to track whether or not a shelter bed or treatment option is available, and what do we need to do to knock down a barrier to get a person into a service that they need?"

Abderholden thinks it's a step backward.

"When we think about these big issues like mental health crises, overdoses, homelessness, you can't just have the city fix it," she said.

Tincher says she doesn't think there will be an interruption in services for people COAST was helping.

Henry says 911 response also will not be impacted.