Michelle Perin, LCSW and Laurel Lisovskis, LCSW have both worked for Eugene, Oregon’s White Bird Clinic on the CAHOOTS mobile crisis team for many years. The Eugene portion of the CAHOOTS program was ended by WBC in April 2025. In this exit interview, Michelle and Laurel speak about their experience on the CAHOOTS van, how the program operated over the years, what went wrong and what will happen next for their clients and Eugene.
Ryan Mattson LCPC MMPP is Director of Social Services for Connections Health Solutions which operates Gallatin Mobile Crisis in Bozeman Montana. He is also a member of the board of directors of Finding Freedom.
AMSA’s Jason Renaud talks with Ryan about working in the mobile crisis field, the operations of a small town team, and about learning from data to improve services.
Justin Nutt, LCSW is owner and CEO of Nurstead Mental Health & Consulting Services, providing service in Clovis, New Mexico and the surrounding area. He is a psychotherapist, field provider, and police trainer.
In this April 2025 talk, Justin tells how both Nurstead and mobile crisis got started in Clovis, details how the team operates, and describes the complexities of managing crisis in a remote and often autonomous community.
Alena Maschke is an award-winning reporter, writer and producer who has covered breaking news, business, politics and communities in Louisiana, Southern California, Florida and New York.
She is the General Manager of The Current, a nonprofit news organization serving Lafayette and southern Louisiana. She has a a graduate degree in data journalism from the Columbia University School of Journalism and is a member of the 2024 cohort of the of the USC Center for Health Journalism National Fellowship.
In a March 2025 episode of AMSA Talks, Alena tells us about new mobile outreach services available for high-utilizers of hospital services, and about the state’s interest in developing mobile crisis in Southwest Louisiana.
Cristina A. Arnold, serves as the Roswell City Councilor for Ward 1. She is a proud fourth-generation Roswellian and New Mexican. She is a local small business owner, mother of three beautiful adult children and an active member of several local civic organizations. With a diverse background in community advocacy, and a legal education, she is equipped to fulfill the needs and aspirations of the community she serves.
In this episode of AMSA Talks, Christina tells us about the need for mobile crisis services in Roswell, the political process, and the early days of relationship building with Chaves County and local providers.
Kevin Bishop MSW is the Social Worker Coordinator for Alternate Defense Counsel in Denver, Colorado. He is chair of the subcommittee on crisis response for the Colorado Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning the Treatment of Persons with Behavioral Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems.
In this episode of AMSA Talks, Kevin talks about the background of Section One of Senate Bill 25-042, which intends to create a state database of alternative response programs and a stakeholder group to inform that database.
Read SB 25-042 – https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2025A/bills/2025a_042_01.pdf
Dr. Amy Barden is the first Chief of Seattle’s third public safety department, called CARE (Community Assisted Response & Engagement). She directs the work of Seattle 911 and the CARE community crisis responders, behavioral health specialists responding to appropriate 911 calls. Amy holds advanced degrees in ethical leadership, administration, and organizational learning, most recently completing a doctorate at Vanderbilt University where she honed skills in data science and behavioral research. She has spent twenty years in leadership at human service organizations in Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, consistently driving positive change to ensure more people are availed of services and interventions that work.
In this episode of AMSA Talks, Chief Amy speaks about collaborating with other mobile crisis leaders in Washington State on House Bill 1811, which in part would recognize mobile crisis workers as first responders.
Read HB 1811 – http://www.us-amsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Washington-HB-1811-2025.pdf
Alexander Heaton is the Director of Reimagining Public Safety at the Policing Project. He previously served as a Policy Advisor on Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Public Safety Team and spent four years with the University of Chicago Crime Lab.
In this episode of AMSA Talks, Alex walks us through the Minneapolis Community Safety Ecosystem Asset and Gap Analysis: Findings and Action Plan.
More about Reimagining Public Safety.
Tansy McNulty is founder and CEO of 1 Million Madly Motivated Moms aka “1M4” which is a member-led organization working to eliminate police brutality through legal action and advocacy and increase representation in the criminal justice system by 2038.
In this episode of AMSA Talks from February 2025, we hear from Tansy about her motivation and 1M4’s project The Right Response Directory.
Julie Wertheimer leads Pew’s Mental Health and Justice Partnerships Project, which collaborates with state policymakers, local officials, and national experts to identify health-focused, evidence-based policy options that can improve how government responds to behavioral health emergencies.
In this episode of AMSA Talks from January 2025, we hear about Julie’s 2023 article, “More Than 1 in 9 Adults With Co-Occurring Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders Are Arrested Annually.”
Dr. Theresa Nguyen is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and the Director of the Center for Community and Global Health. In her previous role as an Assistant Director of the CCGH, she mentored students in their scholarly work and was instrumental in expanding the Community and Global Health Honors program. She also co-founded the Loyola Street Medicine program, which is dedicated to providing medical care and social outreach to individuals experiencing homelessness. For her leadership of this program, she was named the Loyola Medicine Spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. awardee in 2022.
David de Voursney is the director of the Division of Community Behavioral Health within the Center for Mental Health Services at SAMHSA. His work has included research, implementation, evaluation, and policy development related to supports for adults with serious mental illness, primary and behavioral health care integration, child and youth services, criminal justice, and other topics related to mental health and substance use disorders.
In this January 2025 talk, David explains the purpose and potential of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics.
Jeron Dorsey, born and raised in Evanston, began his career with the City of Evanston in 2013. He is Deputy Director of Evanston Parks and Recreation. In this role, he manages the CARE team, oversees the Youth and Family Services and Community Arts Division, and leads all department community service initiatives. He is a Certified Crisis Responder and certified in Crisis Prevention by the Crisis Prevention Institute.
In this interview from December 2025, Dorsey talks the start-up of the Crisis Alternative Response Evanston (CARE) team, how it got it’s home in Parks & Rec, and how a local college helped them get started.
Jason Lerner Ph.D oversees the University of Chicago Health Lab‘s crisis response and diversion/deflection portfolio, including evaluations of several promising alternative response programs and community-based interventions for multi-system “high-utilizers.” He also manages the lab’s body of 911 predictive analytics and qualitative work with 911 system stakeholders. Prior to joining the Health Lab, Jason spent several years with Crime Lab New York, one of Health Lab’s sister labs, where he managed multiple large-scale field studies, including an evaluation of the impact of outdoor lighting on crime in and around New York City.
In this interview from December 2025, Lerner talks about his team approach to creating – Chicago’s Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) Pilot Implementation Evaluation.
Harry Litman is a former U.S. attorney and deputy assistant attorney general. He is the creator and host of the “Talking Feds” podcast (@talkingfedspod) and a regular commentator on LA Times, MSNBC, CNN and CBS News. Litman teaches constitutional and national security law at UCLA and UC San Diego, is a senior fellow at the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. He served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and Anthony Kennedy.
From December 2025, Litman comments on the future of existing consent decrees and settlements between the US DOJ and US cities and their police departments.
AMSA Talks is produced for members of the Alternative Mobile Services Association. To learn more about AMSA, visit their website at www.us-amsa.org.