Thank you for being here. There is a lot of work to do.

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As I have faced tremendous pressure from an employer, I realized something: I am more than an employee or a cog in a wheel. I am a public servant, a social worker, a mother, and a woman of integrity with an ethical code of conduct that remains steadfast in its commitment to social justice and equitable practice. 

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As I endured relentless intimidation and scare tactics in my workplace, my resolve only strengthened. It reminded me of who my mothers—yes, two—raised me to be: an advocate. 

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I felt empowered by the colleagues I work alongside. While I initially felt compelled to protect them, as our employer failed to do, my vision expanded. I do not need to protect these very capable women; I need to help protect the profession. I needed an organization to turn to for guidance and support, but that organization did not exist.

So I created one.

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The Association of Co-Response Clinicians (ACRC) was born.

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It is not lost on me that I work in a helping profession while being actively pressured and deceived by systems of power—law enforcement leadership, county leadership, and ultimately the city commissioners they serve. I have already begun to see how I am being portrayed: as reckless and anti-law enforcement. Make no mistake, this narrative is intended to discredit me. When the truth is inconvenient, they distort it. When the truth is spoken, they try to silence it. If I were truly anti-law enforcement, I would not be fighting so hard to protect the integrity of the profession and the co-response model that exists to support both first responders and the communities they serve. This is simply a continuation of the mistreatment I have already experienced at the hands of this local government agency. Rather than accept accountability for disastrous and neglectful leadership, my employer has chosen to scapegoat me. When the truth offends, remember, they lie. 

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Co-response depends on partnership between first responders—primarily law enforcement—and mental health professionals. Strengthening that partnership requires protecting both professions. 

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I have been honored to work alongside patrol officers, deputies, and the many first responders we encounter on calls for service. It is important to acknowledge that the patrol officers and deputies I worked beside did not mistreat me or my fellow clinicians. That came from leadership.  Within the ecosystem of local government, clinicians occupy the proverbial bottom of the hierarchy. We do not determine policy or procedure. We are expected to trust leadership—even when leadership has blatantly lied to and misled us. Employees are often turned against one another to preserve the dominant narrative: that clinicians are simply being unreasonable. 

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Any rhetoric suggesting I am anti-law enforcement is not only a mischaracterization—it is slanderous.

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It is also harmful to the growth of this association, which exists to strengthen co-response, including partnerships with law enforcement.

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The stark reality is this: we are not operating within a partnership of equals. While many patrol officers and deputies have supported clinicians, leadership has demonstrated a very different pattern. Pointing out that discrepancy is not an attack on anyone. It is an opportunity for growth.

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Like other helping  professions—including education, healthcare, and wellness—our field must fight for the recognition, protections, and compensation that should already accompany work of this magnitude. Co-response clinicians are mental health professionals who are expected to do the most while expecting the least. We are taught this from the beginning of our education: "We don't get into this for the money." The message is clear: accept less. 

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There is no co-response without the mental health clinician.

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As my employer reminded me, "Law enforcement survived without co-response before, and they can manage without you now." That statement is true. Law enforcement can function without co-response. I have never argued otherwise. What is equally true is that there is no co-response without mental health professionals. Yet clinicians are routinely excluded from drafting the very policies that govern our practice. We are expected to operate within systems we have little authority to shape, despite being essential to the model's success. If co-response is truly a partnership, why are clinicians denied an equitable voice at the table?

 

Co-response clinicians are required to earn master's degrees, obtain professional licensure, complete thousands of supervised clinical hours, pass national examinations, and maintain continuing education throughout their careers. Yet we are often treated as inconsequential. When we raise legitimate clinical concerns—particularly concerns involving ethics and public trust—we are dismissed. I have asked my leadership, "When would it ever be appropriate for a group of clinicians to write a policy that law--enforcement is required to follow- or take severance?" Of course, this question was met with blank stares- so I answered it myself. It would NEVER happen to law enforcement. For many reasons, but the primary ones are, people respect law enforcement and their leadership would never let that happen to them. My leadership in this organization was a systemic failure, from the division manager to the division director. This stemmed up through the HR department and the city manager. All telling me the same thing- just be quiet and listen- or leave. 

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I am not an agent of law enforcement.

Nor am I afforded the legal protections of one.

Yet my employer drafted a policy defining me as such.

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My interactions with people in crisis should not be subject to law enforcement requests for witness statements. The destruction of a client's trust can become a lifelong wound—one that creates lasting resistance to mental health care. I cannot participate in that.

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Let us call it what it is. If clinicians are expected to provide witness statements as requested, the breakdown in trust will not occur between the public and law enforcement. It will occur between the public and mental health professionals—and, by extension, our profession as a whole.

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When people outside your profession—who are not bound by your ethical obligations or professional codes of conduct—dictate your clinical practice, there is tremendous room for misunderstanding. What I believe is ethical and professionally responsible may differ from someone who is not at risk of losing their integrity, their self-respect, or their professional license. The clinician carries that responsibility alone, regardless of what a county attorney may say. 

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I have spent nearly my entire life being a voice for change. I have challenged the status quo in nearly every setting I have entered. That makes people uncomfortable. Too often, they mistake the source of their discomfort for the person willing to speak aloud what others refuse to acknowledge. I have realized that the comfort many people find in remaining passive, agreeable, and non-confrontational is a luxury I have never possessed. I feel compelled to speak when I witness mistreatment and injustice. If that creates discomfort, so be it.

I am here for the change. Now, let's get to work.

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In Solidarity,

ALM