For Immediate Release: August 23, 2021
Operation 2 Save Lives (O2SL) & QRT National, a United States-based firm operating within the pre-arrest diversion (PAD), deflection field and The Global Network for Community Safety (Global Network), a Canadian-based firm that focuses on innovations to improve Community Safety and Well-being across Canada and in the U.S., announce their partnership to provide states, provinces, counties, and communities with comprehensive, collaborative solutions in addressing issues of marginalization, including poverty, victimization, substance use (SUD) and mental health disorders (MHD).
Through the O2SL and QRT National – Global Network partnership, these two organizations can work cross-border to collectively provide multi-agency community responses to address issues of marginalization, for pre-crisis identification and crisis interventions, while creating pathways to care and support. Their combined expertise and suite of services – based on internationally recognized best past practices – can help provide communities with tailored responses to meet their current needs, and the ability to rapidly adjust to an evolving landscape of risk factors including those around substance use disorders, mental health disorders, and related social health issues.
Among these collaborative solutions is the Situation Table/Hub Model coming out of Canada, and already in place in several communities in the USA. A tried and tested innovation, this model brings multiple sectors together in a new way to address those facing the most urgent need in the community. Designed to utilize existing resources, this rapid triage model it is not a new entity, but rather a conversation among human service professionals guided by a strict discipline to protect personal information and privacy. Focused upstream, it aims to connect those individuals and families in the community facing acutely elevated levels of risk (AER), as recognized across multiple human service lenses, with the services they need through collaborative supportive interventions. It is not about enforcement. It is about connecting individuals/families with all the services they need, typically within 24-48 hours. The model also helps communities to identify and collectively address service gaps and needed reforms.
The Global Network for Community Safety Co-founders – President and Executive Advisor Norman E. Taylor, former Detective Sergeant Brent Kalinowski (retired from the Prince Albert Police Services), and Strategy and Communications Professional Lisa Taylor – are some of the original architects of this model and since 2010, in addition to other leading work, they have advised, trained, and supported adoptions of the Situation Table/Hub Model in over 100 communities in Canada and the USA.
O2SL and QRT National provides a one-stop solution to addressing behavioral health issues through shared, community responses. O2SL and QRT National was built upon the advocacy of two Massachusetts and one Ohio police chief. Retired Police Chiefs Scott Allen, Michael Botieri, and Daniel Meloy gained national recognition because of their innovation in creating public safety and public health national mentor site programs in addressing the opioid, polysubstance use, and mental health disorder crisis.
They do this through collaborative partnerships that include law enforcement, fire, and EMS agencies, public and behavioral health, and community organizations working together to connect vulnerable, at risk populations, their family members, and loved ones to treatment, recovery, and support services.
O2SL and QRT National has been working in Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alaska, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Illinois with activities planned in additional states to help create or enhance pre-arrest diversion, deflection model programs. Their team is comprised of over 20 nationally recognized public safety and public health subject matter experts. Among the O2SL and QRT National subject matter expert team, are two nationally recognized Hub Situation Table instructors, Daniel Cortez, and David Batchelor, from Massachusetts.
O2SL and QRT National and Global Network’s program services offers comprehensive, proven methods where there is no simple, one-size-fits-all answer to addressing a community’s social health needs. Together we provide a one-stop source for addressing behavioral health issues through shared, community responses.
To learn more about the partnership and how both teams can support your community health needs, contact Scott C. Allen, Chief Operation Officer, O2SL and QRT National, allens@o2sl.com, our website www.o2sl.com, on twitter @O2sl_Qrt_Nat, and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/o2sl