What Is Community Response?
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The term “community response” refers to a system of coordinated support and services for both youth and adults aimed at preventing unnecessary incarceration, hospitalization, or entry into child welfare systems. These programs use evidence-based strategies to address public safety, justice reform, community behavioral health and social needs before they escalate into emergencies.
Community response programs focus on connecting individuals to treatment for mental health and substance use disorders while also supporting access to basic needs such as housing, food, and employment services.
The Growth of Community Response
Community response has become one of the fastest-growing areas of law enforcement and public health collaboration. New roles and programs are emerging rapidly. Despite the relative infancy of these concepts—many of which have only developed over the past 10 years—more than 1,000 communities nationwide now provide some form of deflection or community-based crisis response services. According to estimates, nearly 3,000 communities offer crisis intervention training to law enforcement and first responders.
Common Community Response Programs and Roles
These are a few examples of community response model programs:
Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT)
CIT programs improve law enforcement interactions with individuals experiencing mental health crises. Officers receive specialized training to de-escalate situations and connect individuals to appropriate services.
Behavioral Health Crisis Response Teams (e.g., Alternative Response, Co-Responder Programs, Mobile Crisis Teams)
A team of professionals pairing mental health professionals with law enforcement or EMS to respond to behavioral health crises. Models vary, though the primary goal is immediate stabilization and service connection rather than arrest or hospitalization.
Homeless Outreach Programs
Engage individuals experiencing homelessness, offering referrals to housing, healthcare, behavioral health, and social services.
Substance Use and Addiction Recovery Programs
Provide support for individuals dealing with substance use disorders, offering counseling, recovery planning, and connections to treatment services.
Youth Diversion Programs
Designed to divert young people from the criminal justice or social services system, these programs provide structured alternatives such as mentoring, counseling, and restorative justice practices.
Community Policing Programs
Emphasize building trust between law enforcement and community members through proactive engagement and collaborative problem-solving.
Public Health Outreach and School-Based Programs
Embedded in schools and public health departments, focus on early intervention, mental health support, anti-bullying efforts, and partnerships with law enforcement to create safe and supportive environments.
Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD)
Divert individuals engaged in low-level, non-violent offenses—often related to substance use—away from jail and into treatment and social services.
Naloxone Plus and Overdose Response Programs
Combine overdose reversal (with naloxone) and rapid connection to treatment and recovery support.
Violence Prevention and Human Trafficking Response Programs
Identify at-risk individuals and intervene before violence or exploitation occurs, providing support and connection to appropriate services.
Common Information-Sharing Barriers
Managing multi-agency information is a central challenge to daily community response operations. To ensure alignment with policy, teams need added data capture solutions that meet compliance during the transfer and sharing of client outcomes. Effective community response for serious mental illness and substance use requires a compliant interagency data-sharing system that connects public safety, justice, behavioral health, and housing partners into a single, coordinated platform for field-based data management and sharing. Modernizing EHRs does not need to mean adopting complex universal integrations. With a privacy-first data capture and management platform, agencies can improve real-time communication, accountability, and continuity of care, particularly for individuals who frequently cycle through emergency, clinical, and justice systems. A core deliverable of this approach is a shared data tracking dashboard that gives grantees visibility into treatment access, housing stability, and public safety metrics—turning fragmented efforts into measurable, system-wide impact.
ARETGroup Co-Responder
ARETGroup Co-Responder is a human services data collection, management, and sharing platform designed for municipal, justice, law enforcement agencies, and behavioral health professionals working in government and community response settings. ARETGroup Co-Responder is purpose-built to track daily operations, field encounters, and case outcomes.
Our complete suite of community response solutions includes:
Crisis Intervention Team Assessment
Trusted by Justice, Public Safety & Health Leaders
Today, Co-Responder is used by community corrections, court services and diversion teams, law enforcement, academic and field researchers. ARETGroup offers return on investment through:
While some currently rely on paper-based processes, sticky notes, and Excel documents, ARETGroup Co-Responder offers a secure and compliant platform for the administration of real-time multi-agency collaboration. Contact ARETGroup to learn more.
