State, municipalities team up to hire mental health responders

​Al Gobeille is secretary of the Agency of Human Services. File photo by Erin Mansfield/VTDiggerFrustrated by a growing mental health crisis, officials in six Chittenden County municipalities are teaming with the state to hire a new kind of first responder.
The communities soon will be sharing four mental health counselors – known as street outreach or community outreach workers – who will try to intervene before a resident ends up in an emergency room or police custody.
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