Monroe County Executive Adam Bello announced the expansion of mental health and substance abuse services in the county.

What You Need To Know

  • County will put $360,000 investment towards FIT Team

  • Working towards having FIT team available 24/7 to go with officers to mental health calls

  • Whole system coming together to make services more available

Bello said Daniel Prude needed mental health services instead of being arrested that night in March, and his death shows how badly the city and county need to expand on resources for those suffering from addiction and mental health issues.

Bello was joined by those who lead mental health, public health, and the RASE Commission.

One of the three major changes he said are coming was that the county will match the city of Rochester’s $300,000 investment with an additional $360,000 investment in the county’s Forensic Intervention Team, or FIT team.

FIT partners with law enforcement to have mental health professionals dispatched with police. Right now, they only do that between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. only if an officer requests them to come with them to the scene, but they hope with this investment they can grow to be 24/7 soon.

"That's why what we're announcing today isn't a one-off. It's not just, we're going to put more money into an existing program and walk away,” said Bello. “That's not the answer. The answer is then to take the short term investment that we're making that's going to help more people. But then how does that relate to the longer-term change that the community wants to see. We need to still have that community conversation about what the final system and end product will look like."


The second change, Bello said, will better help coordinate addiction treatments and organizations. He also wants to create a task force of mental health and addiction experts. Co-Chair of the RASE Commission, Dr. Mahammad Shafiq, said the changes will better align all agencies by allowing them to work towards one goal.

"We are reaching to all of those who are Monroe County and our city to find out what are there pains,” said Shafiq. “So that we can be more educated and we can pinpoint our recommendations to those areas."

Bello said it is going to require the entire system to be on the same page working towards helping people better. He also said he is in support of those protesting for Prude.