SAN ANTONIO — The City of San Antonio is expanding its mental health crisis team, known as SA CORE. It stands for Community Outreach and Resiliency Effort.
It launched in 2022, with one team who only responded to central/downtown San Antonio. It consists of an SAPD officer, an SAFD paramedic and clinician. They are called out to respond to 911 calls involving mental health, as long as they are not violent.
Last September, city council set aside more than $7 million in funding to expand services city-wide. That expansion started in January.
Andrew Treinies is a San Antonio police officer and joined SA CORE when it expanded. While he has had 8 years of experience in law enforcement, he is new to this job.
“I’ve worked patrol all of my career and mental health and helping people has always been in my DNA and calling,” Treinies said.
Kyasha Horne is also new to the crew. She is in her ninth year with the San Antonio Fire Department and wanted to be apart of the new expansion.
“I would like to be able to assist people in the long run so they’re not dialing 911 as frequently but actually getting the help that they need,” Horne said.
Shawn is a clinician with the Center for Health Care Services. She has been with SA CORE since the beginning.
"I jumped on it, I wasn't even looking for a job,” Shawn said.
She admitted she was a bit intimated at first, having to work alongside law enforcement. But she said she quickly learned to look beyond the uniforms.
“They come in and they know how to talk to somebody,” Shawn said. “There’s been times that the person has built more repour with them than me and I can step back and do my assessment and really not have to say anything because they’re so well trained.”
The three of them each wear a polo with the SA CORE logo. They said this helps them come across as more approachable. The goal is not to make arrests but get people the help they need.
"We all piggyback off each other and it really does mesh well,” Horne said.
There is no typical ‘call’ for the SA CORE group.
For example, Monday morning, they were called out to assist after a man appeared to be attempting to harm himself. The group spent about 30 minutes evaluating the situation and speaking with both the man and his family. They deemed the call medical.
"He wasn't able to really communicate a lot, so after he's been treated in the hospital maybe we can get down to, was he using, is there mental illness there?” Shawn said.
Within 24 hours, the group attempted to follow up on the case, which they do for every case. Shawn said it is important to make sure each person they see is connected to resources like housing, inpatient services, or outpatient services.
"There's a lot of mental illness in homelessness, there's a lot of mental illness in jails and we're here to help minimize that,” Shawn said.
Last year, SA CORE responded to 1,202 calls, according to SAPD. That was with just that one group. Now, there are three teams. In the first two months of the year, they have responded to 680 calls.
“There’s always room for growth,” Horne said.
The teams operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. According to the city budget, the plan is to expand services 24/7 by the summer.