A Call For Care
Who do you call?
In April 2022, Gladys Whitfield of Indianapolis made a late-night 911 call. Her son, Herman Whitfield II, was in the midst of a mental health episode. About an hour later, the 39-year-old was declared dead after six IMPD officers arrived, restrained, and tased him.
Several months later, the family of 51-year-old Dante Kittrell of South Bend faced the same unimaginable grief. Kittrell was undergoing a mental health crisis when he was fatally shot by police.
These situations are not uncommon. According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, people with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed than other civilians during a police encounter.
When families are faced with the heartbreaking decision to seek help for their loved ones, they should not be fearful of the consequences of calling for help. Through our comprehensive “A Call for Care” statewide campaign, Faith in Indiana engaged partners throughout the state to seek solutions for our mental health crisis.
Help, Not Handcuffs
What if Herman, Dante, and thousands of others struggling with mental health received professional help — instead of drawn weapons and handcuffs?
Faith in Indiana, along with our partners, demanded answers on how to transform our systems so that we are preserving human dignity and, most importantly, life during a mental health crisis. The criminalization of people during a period of their greatest needs is unacceptable. No matter our race, faith, or zip code we deserve to be treated with care.
Using the Crisis Now Model as our guide, we advocated for crisis care reform that would give Hoosiers:
A person to CALL. With a dedicated phone number to call, individuals experiencing a mental health crisis can feel confident about getting the help they need.
A team to COME. A mobile crisis response team of mental health professionals are better trained to de-escalate a crisis and provide aid.
A place to GO. A behavioral crisis center that is open 24 hours a day serves as a better alternative to jail or the emergency room for a person in need.
Passing Groundbreaking Legislation
From Gary to New Albany; South Bend to Indianapolis over 800 faith leaders of all races, denominations, and backgrounds gathered in February 2023 to kick-off the ‘A Call for Care’ Campaign to urge the Indiana legislature to fully fund mental health crisis response—a proven way of keeping our communities safe and healthy for everyone who lives in them—no exceptions.
Hundreds of people acted with weekly vigils at the statehouse, over 87 meetings with legislators, and thousands of calls for support. We enlisted business, law enforcement, and civic leaders to join their voices to ours. Our Call for Care drumbeat grew louder each week.
At every turn, Faith in Indiana leaders and partners called on Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and legislators to allocate $130 million a year for the implementation of the Behavioral Health Commission's report, which call for a system across the state that would provide anyone in need someone to call, someone to come and a safe place to go.
The Call for Care Campaign built on over two years of policy victories in Indianapolis, South Bend, and Fort Wayne demonstrating the positive impact of a mental health crisis response system as an alternative to law enforcement. We talked to thousands of voters to weigh in prior to the midterm elections, a whopping 84% of whom said they support our Call for Care policy agenda.
Through the power of organized people, engaging voters, and a strong narrative drumbeat, our unlikely coalition of community, business, and law enforcement celebrated groundbreaking legislation to overhaul Indiana’s mental health system to the tune of $100 million.
Within weeks of passage of this historic legislation, millions have already been allocated to local communities to build out the new system - a 24/7 suicide hotline, the establishment of a mobile crisis teams, and crisis care facilities.
Now, Indiana is poised to be one of ten national model states. If selected, the mental health crisis care system could be fully funded by 2027. We are proud of how far we’ve come, and we’ve only just begun. Join US!