The right responder at the right time in the right situation. That’s the motto of Greensboro’s Behavioral Health Response Team. Since its start in late 2020, the group of crisis counselors has worked alongside local police to de-escalate, support, and connect people in emergencies. And with the newly passed city budget, the team is expanding.
“We’re able to divert people away from the criminal justice system,” said Dewey Mullis, behavioral health supervisor for the city.
The team, called BHRT for short, was formed after the start of the pandemic and the national racial reckoning after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd. BHRT is a crisis response team, or CRT, that goes out on 911 calls with or without an armed officer. It’s changing policing in Greensboro for the better, according to police and city officials.
“There was an attention on policing and the different social relationships,” Mullis said. “A lot of the conversations were, ‘How do you start your program? How do you establish relationships with different communities?’”
Now, six years in, the team is working to expand its work.
‘There for Everybody’
In the initial years, the team was small—about six clinicians, a team lead, and one outreach coordinator. They worked Monday through Friday between 8 a.m.-10 p.m. The model was only a co-response, meaning clinicians always went out on calls with a police officer. But in February, BHRT started a pilot program where clinicians sometimes respond to calls without an officer at all, a method known as alternative response.
“What we found was that by and large it was successful,” Mullis said. “We asked, first and foremost, ‘Do our clinicians feel safe without an officer?’ And they felt safe every single time.”
During the pilot period, which ran for about two months, the team responded to 45 calls without an officer present. They only had to request police backup once.
Everything starts in the call center, when someone either calls 911 or the non-emergency line (336-373-2222). Then the dispatchers create a code. If the call has a mental health component, they ask if any BHRT clinicians are available. Then, depending on the details—like if anyone is armed—the team will decide if they can go out alone or request an officer to accompany them.
In the last three years, BHRT answered more than 8,500 calls and completed more than 11,000 follow-up case management calls.
During a recent downtown meeting led by councilmember April Parker, business owners and residents lauded the team’s work in helping unhoused people.
While that’s a visible population BHRT works with, Mullis said, unhoused people only make up about 10-15% of their calls.
“Most of our calls take place in residences,” Mullis said. “The visibility of homelessness drives that perception.”
The racial makeup of the calls is 60% Black, 30% white, 10% a mix of other races, according to BHRT’s data. Calls come from predominantly low to middle-income callers.
BHRT calls run the gamut. Most involve mental health crises, like people acting strangely or threatening suicide. But they also include welfare checks, family disorders, children with behavioral challenges, and traffic stops for people driving erratically.
“We average 25-30 different call natures every month,” Mullis said. “We’ve been on hazmat calls, water rescue calls, arson calls.” A growing number of calls involve elderly residents experiencing dementia, he said.
BHRT coordinators also follow up with every person with whom they come into contact. They help connect them with resources, pick them up for appointments, or help them apply for housing.
“BHRT is there for everybody at the end of the day,” Mullis said.
‘We Need To Get To 24/7’
The mission isn’t necessarily to decrease calls, Mullis said. It’s to help those in need and connect them to necessary resources.
There are more than 130 alternative response programs in cities across the country, including Durham, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem, according to an online directory published in 2025. A Harvard study from November found similar response teams having much the same experience as Greensboro’s.
A majority of calls that teams respond to are handled without the need for police, and they are rarely requested for backup. The teams then connect people with case management, housing resources, and medical services.
Many of the teams have moved to operating seven days a week, which Greensboro has yet to do. But with additional funding, that is a goal, Mullis said.
In 2024, BHRT expanded its hours to cover 6 a.m.-12 a.m. They’ve also gradually expanded the team, which currently totals 12 members.
With the new budget, the team will add an additional three full-time positions, which will allow them to begin operating overnight.
“The grand plan idea scenario is that every single behavioral health or substance use-related call gets a clinician response,” Mullis said. “Obviously, we’re not there yet. We need to get to 24/7. I think people need and deserve it.”
To achieve a 24/7 operation, Mullis said, the team would ideally need to double its members. He also wants there to be a designated BHRT team member at the call center, so a clinician is the first point of contact.
“Workforce shortages and funding limitations loom large in terms of achieving the necessary scale and capacity for a nationwide network of [mobile crisis team] programs that are 24/7, on-demand, and provide timely crisis response,” according to a 2023 national survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
But things are moving in the right direction, Mullis said.
“Greensboro has been recognized as one of the more established models of community safety and behavioral health response,” he said. “We have trained and helped develop several other teams in the state and across the region. Greensboro is well-positioned in the national conversation to be a model and resource on what a community safety continuum can look like.”
Now, it’s about making sure the Greensboro community knows BHRT exists, Mullis said.
“I want them to use us,” he said. “If they are having a crisis or if someone they see or know is having a crisis, there is someone you can call.”
Having worked in the field and de-escalated situations himself, Mullis said he knows the power of working directly with those in need.
“The most rewarding situation, hands down, is when you can tell that the person is on the verge of making a decision that would significantly impact or end their life,” Mullis said. “And when you can end that interaction with a smile and hope for tomorrow,”
“For them to have a healthy plan for tomorrow—that’s hope,” he said. “At a bare minimum, we need to be giving people hope that they didn’t have before we got there.”
To connect with BHRT call 911 or the non-emergency line at 336-373-2222.
