Chicago will no longer have members of the police and fire departments on its mental health emergency response teams.

The Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) program is moving to a new staffing model — with all public health workers.

It’s part of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plans to end the criminalization of mental health issues and help people get the care they need.

But advocates say there is still much more work to be done to improve access. The lack of access to mental health facilities on the South and West sides of the city still pose a major problem to improving services.

Johnson has plans to reopen the city-run Roseland Mental Health Center by the end of this year and open two other mental health service sites at the Legler Regional Library on the West Side and at the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Lower West Side vaccine clinic in Pilsen.

Cheryl Miller, a public health organizer for Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP Chicago) and member of the Collaborative for Community Wellness (CCW), has seen firsthand the need for mental health care on the South and West sides.

“The CCW did a provider survey that showed that three-quarters of the city had less than two-tenths of one therapist per 1,000 people, whereas downtown and Near North had 4.3 providers per 1,000 persons,” Miller said. “That is why we have been fighting so hard to not just reopen the centers that were closed but also to expand.”

Addressing the shortage is part of the city’s plan, and the removal of the police and fire departments from mental health emergency response calls is the first step in a much larger strategy.

The CARE program is an initiative led by the Chicago Department of Public Health, with support from the mayor’s office and other city agencies. Now these teams will be made up of only mental health professionals.

“Essentially, these teams provide support and de-escalate any situation, or try to de-escalate as much as possible so people in crisis aren’t criminalized,” said Any Huamani, Treatment Not Trauma organizer for Brighton Park Neighborhood Council and member of the CCW.

According to a press release from the mayor’s office, over the last three years, CARE team dispatches have resulted in zero arrests and the use of force in less than .1% of incidents. The CCW analyzed 911 behavioral calls from January 2019 to February 2022.

“We were able to see that there were an increased number of calls, (911) mental health and behavioral health calls, in communities that formerly had a public mental health center,” Miller said.

Since the transition of 911 calls, advocates say there is no room for those in the mental health profession to start forming relationships.

“We got the first step to moving care into CDPH,” Huamani said. “Now we need to build that bridge between the care teams, but also the public mental health centers to provide long-term care and hopefully start preventing more mental health crises along the way.”

The program is not citywide, but there are hopes from mental health advocates for expansion.

Matt Masterson contributed to this report.

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