Mental health crisis response program SAFE, started in Petaluma, expands to Sonoma State University

Petaluma’s own SAFE Team program, having already expanded to two other Sonoma County cities, is expanding again with the announcement that Sonoma State University’s police department will also be utilizing the service.

Standing for Specialized Assistance for Everyone, SAFE offers local law enforcement and other first responders an alternative way to respond to mental health, substance abuse or homelessness calls – all of which “have traditionally (and unnecessarily) burdened law enforcement, emergency medical services and health care providers,” organizers say.

SAFE began under the auspices of Petaluma People Services Center, which runs a large assortment of human services programs designed to improve people’s lives in areas ranging from employment to counseling to food security.

Begun in Petaluma nearly two years ago, SAFE was inspired by a highly successful program out of Eugene, Oregon. As Sonoma State University leaders explained in a January statement: “The team is made up of civilian first responders, who respond to and proactively address calls for service” – in effect, sending trained civilians who may be better suited to addressing such crises.

The Petaluma city website states that “Petaluma is the first city in Sonoma County, and the first in the region, to provide a program like SAFE.” Since launching in July 2021, however, SAFE quickly expanded to Rohnert Park and Cotati – and now to Sonoma State, which held a kickoff event for the program in the campus’ Seawolf Plaza on Jan. 23.

But it’s not stopping there. Also in late January, the San Rafael City Council approved an agreement with Petaluma People Services Center to bring SAFE to Marin County, with a three-year pilot program kicking off in March. The new crisis team is expected to take about 4,000 calls a year, amounting to 8% of 911 calls in San Rafael, according to the Marin Independent Journal.

“It’s kind of a big deal! We are thrilled,” wrote Elece Hempel, executive director of Petaluma People Service Center, in an email to the Argus-Courier.

Hempel went on to say that SAFE responded to more than 4,000 calls during the first fiscal year of the program in Petaluma. “We are currently 24 hours a day in Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Cotati and now SSU,” she said. The San Rafael pilot program will begin at 12 hours a day, meaning traditional first responders will handle those calls when the SAFE Team is off duty.

Hempel and other organizers credit a group of Petaluma youths with bringing the program to the North Bay in the first place. Amid nationwide turmoil over police brutality – particularly after the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests – these young people launched a local campaign focused on improving crisis response in their hometown.

In particular, they called on local leaders to replicate a program out of Eugene, Ore. called Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets, or CAHOOTS.

Local leaders took them up on it, and within a year the city and Petaluma People Services Center partnered to form SAFE. The new program kicked off July 5, 2021. Petaluma is now considered a leader in crisis intervention in Sonoma County and the North Bay.

Nader Oweis, chief of police for the Sonoma State Police Department, said he expects SAFE to be a big help for his officers. Referring to outside resources that can help support the university’s police department, Oweis told the Argus-Courier that “One of the reasons we partnered with the SAFE Team was to make it easier to access these resources, especially when a community member may be in some sort of crisis.”

“Having the SAFE Team respond to these types of calls, including welfare checks, members experiencing mental health issues, intoxication, and other situations, either on their own or with us, would increase the chances of deescalating a situation and getting them the help they need,” Oweis said.