Police Services

Response, Evaluation, and Crisis Help

For mental health emergencies, call 911
Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
For additional mental health resources, visit Illinois Mental Health & Wellness

What is REACH?

The Response, Evaluation and Crisis Help (REACH) initiative is a collaborative team which brings together police officers and social workers as a single patrol unit to meet the needs of community members who are experiencing a mental health crisis. Additionally, REACH staff follow up with community members within the first few days of that crisis to make sure they have access to ongoing support. REACH staff offer short-term case management focusing on connection to community resources and future crisis mitigation.

Why REACH?

In mental health emergencies, police departments historically have been tasked with making sure that community members in crisis do not hurt themselves or someone else. This safety component is a critically important function. However, even though police officers are trained in crisis intervention, their expertise does not match that of a social worker who is qualified to make a clinical assessment as to the intervention a community member needs. By pairing a police officer and a social worker as a single patrol unit available to respond in emergencies, the University of Illinois Police Department can very quickly deliver qualified personnel to assess an individual’s clinical needs while at the same time providing for the safety of everyone on scene — including the community member in crisis, department personnel and bystanders.

The bottom line: Through REACH, our goal is to provide better care to community members in crisis by ensuring the safety of all people involved, reducing unnecessary hospitalizations, and supporting individuals after the crisis.

How it works

REACH emergency response mirrors a traditional patrol response, but with an emphasis on getting a social worker on scene. Here’s a basic response outline:

  • A 911 call is placed.
  • A dispatcher follows their regular line of questioning, taking care to note any indication of a mental health crisis.
  • If the dispatcher determines that there is a mental health component to the call, they will dispatch a Behavioral Health Detective (BHD) unit. In our dispatch system, BHD indicates that a social worker is riding in the car with a police officer.
  • The BHD unit arrives on scene, and the police officer makes an immediate assessment of whether or not the scene is secure.
  • If the scene is not safe, the officer would follow their normal training protocols (including their Crisis Intervention Training) to address any potential safety threats.
  • Once the scene is deemed safe, the officer steps away and the responding social worker takes the lead in speaking to the community member in crisis.
  • The social worker gathers information, completes a clinical assessment, and collaborates with the community member to determine next steps which may include:
    • Providing immediate supportive therapy and listening support
    • Creating a safety plan
    • Identifying needs for support and connecting the individual to those resources
    • Obtaining consent to communicate with other university departments and community agencies to assist in scheduling and case management needs
    • Transportation to a safe location
    • Plans for follow up communication
  • After the immediate emergency is resolved, the case remains with REACH for a crisis counselor to follow-up at a later date. At that time, REACH offers further assistance to the community member, including making connections with supportive services, if appropriate.

Meet the REACH Team

Lieutenant Rachael Ahart

REACH Supervisor, MSW

Rachael has served on the UIPD since 2011 and joined REACH in 2021. As a patrol officer, she was a certified member of the Crisis Intervention Team and taught self-defense classes to women on campus. Rachael has a Master of Social Work and a Graduate Woman Scholar Award for work related to enhancing victim outcomes through a collaborative response to sexual assault from the criminal justice system and support services.

Megan Cambron

Crisis Outreach Coordinator, LCSW

Megan is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and one of the founding members of REACH. She supervises the team’s Crisis Responders and coordinates the unit’s response to mental health emergencies. Before her role in the UIPD, Megan worked with military veterans in many settings, including residential treatment, psychiatric units, outpatient mental health, and the Suicide Prevention Program.

Amanda Goodwin

Crisis Responder, LCSW

Amanda is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and joined REACH in July 2021 as its first crisis responder. In that role, she rides with patrol officers and responds to crisis calls to assess community members’ mental health needs and to offer resources. She earned her Master’s in Social Work in 2017, and she says one of the most rewarding things about the job is helping others and seeing the improvements in their daily lives.

Becky Rowe

Crisis Responder, LSW

Becky graduated in 2021 with her Master of Social Work from the UIUC School of Social Work, and she joined REACH in September 2021 as one of its first crisis responders. She responds to emergencies with a police officer and a therapy K9, and she provides clinical assessments and resources in the field. She said she chose this line of work because she wants to provide a voice to people who need help and to help modernize local mental health services.

Jessica Wilson

Crisis Responder, LSW

Jessica is a Licensed Social Worker who joined UIPD as a Crisis Responder in May 2023. She rides with a police officer and responds to crisis calls in the community, where she completes clinical assessments and provides resources. She chose this job because she felt that there is a need for social workers to engage with officers in our community.

Julian Silver

Crisis Responder, MSW

Julian joined UIPD full-time in December 2024 after completing their Master of Social Work at the U. of  I. School of Social Work. They began with REACH as an intern, drawn to the role by a passion for supporting individuals in crisis and addressing mental health and substance use challenges in underserved communities.

Alex Tran

Therapy K9 Handler and Behavioral Health Detective

Alex joined the UIPD in 2016 after graduating from UIUC. In 2020, he was selected as a REACH behavioral health detective, and he was paired with the therapy K9 Lollipop to respond to mental health-related emergencies and attend community events. Alex also serves as a volunteer firefighter in Savoy, Illinois. He said that he was always fascinated by first responders while growing up in Chicago, and he entered public safety because he wanted to help people.

Michael Mitrou

Therapy K9 Handler and Behavioral Health Detective

Michael joined the UIPD as a patrol officer in 2019 and he was selected as a therapy K9 handler in 2021. Officer Mitrou and therapy K9 Rosie are available to respond to mental health emergencies and attend events on campus. Mitrou says that he and Rosie especially love events where they have a chance to interact and speak with community members.

James McCartney

Behavioral Health Detective

James McCartney joined UIPD in August 2022 and was selected as a Behavioral Health Detective in July 2024. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Illinois State University and an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration. Having grown up in the area, he understands the community’s unique needs and is committed to making a meaningful impact by helping create a safer, more supportive environment.

Zac White

Behavioral Health Detective

Zac White joined UIPD in January 2023 and became a Behavioral Health Detective in July 2024. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law Enforcement and Justice Administration from Western Illinois University. Zac is motivated to rebuild trust between police and the public, and was drawn to REACH after seeing its positive impact. He finds it rewarding to connect individuals in crisis with the resources they need.

Betsy Alfonso

Behavioral Health Detective

Betsy Alfonso joined UIPD in July 2023 after 12 years with another local police department. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Sociology. Selected as a backup Behavioral Health Detective in summer 2024, she was drawn to the role by a desire to help people in crisis and be part of the REACH program’s proactive approach to mental health response and follow-up.

Michelle Kaeding

Behavioral Health Detective

Detective Michelle Kaeding joined UIPD in 2015 and has been involved with REACH since the program launched in 2020. After a stint in the detective bureau, she became a full-time Behavioral Health Detective in January 2025. With a long-standing passion for helping people in crisis, Michelle is committed to providing compassionate, meaningful support to those navigating mental health challenges.

Valerie Marcotte

Behavioral Health Detective

Valerie joined UIPD as a police officer in June 2020 and said she was motivated by her husband — also a police officer — because she wanted to impact lives in the same way he does. She believes mental health is critical for any human being, and she wants to bridge the gap to help others understand that the police are there to help. She also serves on the department’s Special Victim’s Unit, recruitment committee and is a mentor to new officers.

Therapy K9s

Some REACH teams also include a Therapy K9. In 2020, the University of Illinois Police Department became one of only a handful of police departments across the country to offer Therapy K9s as a community resource, and UIPD’s therapy dogs are one of many outreach initiatives that the department provides. Lollipop, Rosie, and their handlers are available to comfort our students, faculty and staff in times of crisis, or to help students reduce their stress and anxiety during the school year. Therapy K9s are also a great way to prompt good conversations between UIPD officers and community members, helping us to build more relationships with the people we serve.

Training and the social work academy

Like any emergency call, mental health-related emergencies are unpredictable. The safety of REACH team members is a top priority, as is preparing them for rapidly evolving scenarios.

Partially to support its own training needs, REACH team members partnered with the University of Illinois Police Training Institute to develop a first-of-its-kind academy for co-response teams: the Academy for Social Work and Public Safety Cooperation (ASWPSC).

The weeklong ASWPSC training covers de-escalation, evaluation tools, suicide risk assessment and intervention, documentation, policy and procedures, radio communication, safety tactics, working as a part of a co-responder team and first responder mindset. It also includes scenario-based training with actors. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers the ASWPSC twice annually to interested departments and co-response teams.

Contact us

Email us at dps-reach@illinois.edu or call us at 217-333-1216.

Industry professionals seeking more information about the REACH model can contact Lt. Rachael Ahart. Members of the news media with questions can contact Senior Communications Coordinator Abbigail Kepp.

Request a program

If you would like to have a Crisis Responder or a Behavioral HealthDetective meet with your group, please make this request at least three weeks in advance of the scheduled program.​

Though we work to accommodate all requests, we are sometimes limited in our schedule. Once we receive the request, someone from REACH will contact you to confirm the details.

Type of programming requested