BATON ROUGE - The Metro Council approved an agreement for The Bridge Center of Hope to start receiving 911 dispatch calls during Wednesday's council meeting.

Currently, The Bridge Center has to rely on law enforcement to bring mental health callers to them. Executive Director Charlotte Claiborne says the approval kickstarts the formation of a team they will call the Mobile Crisis Response Unit.

"The goal is that on low acuity calls, we would just be dispatched only and we wouldn't have to send law enforcement or first responders out unless we needed to. Low acuity calls for us will be individuals that are not in immediate danger so people who are experiencing anxiety, depression or something of that nature," Claiborne said.

She also says the unit will help meet mental health patients where they are and help break the stigma surrounding mental health. A licensed mental health professional and peer support will be involved in the dispatch services. 

"In the event we go out there, our goal is to be able to triage that individual in the community. If that person needs additional services, we are fully equipped to take them to wherever they need to go because they do have a freedom of choice. In the beginning, we're not going to send out our staff on their own. They're going to be in tandem with law enforcement and first responders for a little while so they can understand the policies and procedures and what they may encounter," she said. 

Claiborne says there are many protocols and training staff will need to go through before this begins, but they hope to start taking calls soon.