#5SmartReads - July 31, 2020

On Kellie Brown, ambition, and when we'll beat COVID

As mobile mental health teams work to de-escalate crises, some warn their models still rely on police partnerships (STAT)

Imagine if we had a first responder mental health team that’s dispatched for every 911 call for those purposes, instead of the police.

Or there’s a co-responder effort - a mental health professional and a police officer.

Imagine if mental health centers replaced 25% of prisons.

Imagine what a better, healthier, and economically stronger we would have.

This is one of those issues that can absolutely happen in local governments, as Denver has been able to do. If you firmly believe in a more just society, start mobilizing your community to divert police funding to building mobile mental health teams and integrating them in emergency first response.

Side note - I’m bullish that the future of healthcare is in mobile delivery, especially in communities without robust healthcare centers. If we can execute on this in the communities most in need, we can absolutely build on it wi…