New Role Integrates a Mental Health Professional with Dispatchers

• The City’s new 911 Call Center Clinician has immediately impacted services to residents. 
  
  

• The Clinician will have many roles, including following up with individuals and supporting callers during vulnerable moments before first responders can arrive on scene.  

In 2023, the City of Cambridge designated a new position within the Emergency Communications Department — a 911 Call Center Clinician. This new position, a rarity in many major cities, is just one of Cambridge’s various efforts to emphasize the city’s understanding that mental health is an integral part of the human experience while actively creating an equitable pathway for residents to engage with a mental health professional.   

The City of Cambridge 911 Call Center Clinician is a unique public safety position as it places a mental health professional directly inside the Emergency Communications Center (ECC) alongside dispatchers. The 911 Call Center Clinician may be utilized by dispatchers during emergencies for purposes of crisis intervention/de-escalation or, when appropriate, to support callers through vulnerable moments before first responders arrive on-scene. Additionally, a large part of the 911 Call Center Clinician’s role is following up with and providing community members connection to mental health and corresponding services by making referrals, providing resources, facilitating screenings, offering support and advocacy, and short-term case management. This position is a great complement to the existing services provided by 911 Dispatchers.  When calling 911 for a behavioral health emergency, our dispatchers can screen, and triage calls for appropriate mental health response based on the medical protocol utilized by staff.  This protocol allows for ensuring the most appropriate response based on what is reported at the time to assist those in need of services.  The 911 Call Center Clinicians is now incorporated into our response plan as an additional resource to assist residents, dispatchers and first responders. 

Cara Corin was hired as the ECC’s first 911 Call Center Clinician. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Master of Social Work (MSW) graduate of Boston University, Corin previously worked as a social worker within the Cambridge Police Department’s Clinical Support Unit. She shares the City of Cambridge’s vision of providing equitable mental health resources to its residents: “I am so fortunate to have an opportunity to utilize the mental health and other human service agency connections I’ve made to continue to assist Cambridge residents with their most pressing mental health and parallel needs.”  

The City of Cambridge fully recognizes that making mental health resources accessible to its residents is paramount, particularly as our society continues to move away from stigmatizing mental health to embracing the ways in which we can promote equitable access for any individual who requires or desires assistance with this critical aspect of their overall health. 

“The fact that Cambridge residents are so open to engage with me as the 911 Call Center Clinician is an amazing feeling. The readiness of various residents to ask for and accept assistance from me in my role here reflects how well the Cambridge ECC staff have taken these calls for years and reflects how far CPD has come in a community-centric approach to policing. The precedent of trust and respect for residents by public safety personnel have set and their empathetic engagement with the community has allowed me to begin to make fairly quick progress with assisting clients because they understand that I come from a place of service and respect, no matter what their situation or need may be.” 

The call volume has continuously increased over the past several months as it relates to behavioral health needs. The 911 Call Center Clinician role has immediately impacted services to residents and has been pretty consistent thus far. 

“When a mother called asking for assistance with her son, I was able to understand her personal and systemic concerns, which allowed me to facilitate a collaboration between her family, pre-existing services, and Youth Resource Officers to quell concerns about her son’s safety and the support he will receive in the community,” said Corin.  

There has mostly been a need for the 911 Call Center Clinician to follow-up with individuals rather than speak to them as they are calling the ECC for help in the moment. However, as ECC continues to evolve the role, and as callers and dispatchers become increasingly familiar of the role within the department, it is expected that the need for the 911 Call Center Clinician to engage in real time with a caller experiencing a crisis becomes more frequent.

“I have received such kind words of appreciation from community members thanking me for assisting them prioritize their needs, connect with appropriate services, and for facilitating collaboration with members of the Cambridge Police. I have already received emails and texts to my work cell thanking me for my “dedication”, “hard work”, and “advocacy”. This thanks is humbling, and I feel it is important to remind anyone reaching out to thank me that I am only able to assist them to the degree they are able to accept assistance; they are equally dedicated, working hard for themselves or their loved ones, and are their own best advocate, as evidenced by their requests for my help and openness to collaborative problem-solving!”

If residents or someone you love would like to connect with the 911 Call Center Clinician regarding mental health and/or parallel issues, please call the Cambridge Police non-emergency line at (617) 349-3300 and request to be connected to the 911 Call Center Clinician.