Here are the active crisis responders and outreach teams – that we know of. There very well could be more out there. Some are a mix of both crisis responders and outreach. If you know of other services or a clarification, leave a comment below. Crisis responders are all some form of law enforcement or private agency contracts through the City of Portland or Multnomah County.

City of Portland

• Portland Police Bureau – all dispatched via 911
  • Neighborhood Response Team
  • Behavioral Health Unit – and Behavioral Health Response Team – also self-dispatched
  • Crisis Intervention Training Team – and “Enhanced” Crisis Intervention Training Team
  • The Service Coordination Team (a Central City Concern contract) does outreach and more with persons identified by PPB officers as addicted / mentally ill and a nuisance – also self-dispatched
  • Public Safety Support Specialists
• Portland Fire & Rescue CHAT (Community Health Assessment Team) – self-dispatch
• Portland Street Response – self-dispatch
• Portland Bureau of Transportation has an outreach team for people living in vehicles
• Portland used to have CHIERS but the mayor’s office shut that down along with the Sobering Station in February 2020

Multnomah County

• • Multnomah County Sheriff – many deputies are CIT trained – 911 dispatch
    • • Multnomah County Sheriff – Homeless Outreach and Programs Engagement (HOPE) team – self-dispatch
  • Multnomah County Mental Health Unit – parole and probation – self-dispatch
  • Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, through the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office, engages with people who are mentally ill or addicted and homeless – self-dispatch
  • Multnomah County Mobile Outreach – part of the Health Department, dispatched through the county crisis line + self-dispatched

Other Governments

• • Gresham Police have a “mental health team” and a service coordination team
  • Port of Portland police are CIT trained
  • For Psychiatric Security Review Board clients who are out of compliance, Contract staff (statewide) will do outreach and escort people to hospital / clinic
  • Federal parole will pick up their people who are not in court compliance – self-dispatched
  • The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a “community outreach” program through the Portland field office – self-dispatched
  • The Veterans Mobile Outreach Program and Community Reintegration Services – self-dispatched

Private Agencies

• AMR – sole ambulance service for Portland and a routine escort for police. Still the primary response when a person is in a medical / psychiatric emergency – dispatched through 911
• Several private and public security companies are in routine contact with people in crisis, such as Portland Patrol, the Central Eastside Sidewalk Operations, and Downtown Clean & Safe.
• There are “Assertive Community Treatment” and simular teams for most of the larger mental health agencies which do outreach with designated hard-to-contact already established clients.
  • • • Cascadia – Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT)
      • Central City Concern – Community Engagement Program (CEP)
      • Telecare – Assertive Community Treatment (TACT)
• Project Respond – crisis outreach, dispatched through the county crisis line + self-dispatched
• Portland Street Medicine – medical outreach, self-dispatch
• Cascadia has a Street Outreach Team which is separate from Project Respond, self-dispatch
• JOIN – Outreach Program – focused on the pods
• Janus Youth has run Yellow Brick Road, helping teens off the streets for decades
• NARA NW has an outreach team for current clients
• Providence Health has an outreach and education program which contacts Latinos through Catholic churches
• Transition Projects has an outreach team in partnership with Central City Concern
• Stroll PDX partners with Portland Street Medicine to do harm reduction outreach.
• This page was last updated September 22, 2021