Dec. 22, 2023

Sioux Falls-based Avel eCare has extended its crisis care services to offer free access for law enforcement officers.

Sheriff’s offices and police departments using Avel, which provides clinician-to-clinician telemedicine services nationwide, can connect with behavioral health professionals 24/7 for personal support.

“Crisis Care was originally designed to help law enforcement manage the increasing number of 911 calls involving people in the community with mental health crises. But with the many difficult, high-pressure situations these officers find themselves in, it’s important we give them the help and support they need too,” Amber Reints, director of behavioral health at Avel eCare, said in a statement.

Research shows police officers experience higher rates of depression, burnout, PTSD and anxiety than the general population. In addition, it is estimated that almost 25 percent of police officers have experienced suicidal ideation at least once in their lifetime.

Avel eCare launched Crisis Care in 2020 with the support of the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Helmsley’s Rural Healthcare Program provided funding to develop a co-responder model that equips law enforcement with on-demand access to behavioral health experts who can assess citizens having a mental health crisis and make informed recommendations for managing the situation.

Today, the program is used in 51 sheriff’s offices across South Dakota. The program has grown extensively in the past year by supporting offices and police departments in parts of Michigan, Montana, Nevada and soon North Dakota.

“We began under the leadership of our South Dakota Unified Judicial System in 2019 or 2020,” said Staci Ackerman, executive director of the South Dakota Sheriffs’ Association. “At the time, I was skeptical of how this was going to work because I immediately thought of the worst-case scenarios I have had in my career. As someone who has been a certified law enforcement officer in South Dakota since 1993, I can say today that the Crisis Care response program through Avel eCare has been one of the most meaningful experiences I have had, which is affecting change.”

A recent study by the University of Iowa Rural Telemedicine Research Center published in JMIR Mental Health found Crisis Care significantly improved outcomes for individuals in crisis while simultaneously helping law enforcement staff.

The data showed that 80 percent of the individuals Avel eCare assisted were able to stay home and follow up with care resources locally instead of going to jail or the emergency room. Local government units can preserve resources and reallocate time that otherwise would have been spent on arrests and involuntary committals.

Avel eCare started as Avera eCare through Avera Health in 1993 and was acquired in 2021 by New York-based Aquiline Capital Partners and rebranded.