ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The city of Rochester has officially moved its community crisis response team from the police department to the department of recreation and human services.
What You Need To Know
- Alia Henton-Williams is the new Comprehensive Crisis Community Response Coordinator for the city's new Office of Crisis Intervention Services
- Henton-Williams has personal experience with dealing with homicide in her family, and it has motivated her continued work in the community
- Henton Williams will coordinate between FACIT, VAU, the Homicide Response Team, and the Crisis Response Team
This new Crisis Intervention Office is being led by a new coordinator, Alia Henton-Williams, who will be determining how homicides, mental health calls, and domestic violence calls are handled.
"They don’t have to explain everything to me because I already know what they’re thinking and feeling," said Henton-Williams.
Henton-Williams has been in the very position that the people she now helps are in. She first had to deal with the death of her brother.
"In 1992, I lost my youngest brother Ralik at 16 years old to a homicide in our community," said Henton-Williams. "And that was the point in time where I made the decision that I was going to go out and try to prevent a tragedy like that to other families."
She started by working with the non-profit Friends and Family of Murdered Children and continued working in the community in different positions through another loss in her life.
"In 2018, I lost my older sister Tracy to a domestic violence homicide,” said Henton-Williams. "And that was the point where the passion and desire kind of reignited in me."
Henton-Williams said when she saw that this new position as coordinator was available, she felt it was made for her. Department of Recreation and Human Services Commissioner Dr. Daniele Lyman-Torres said that is why she appointed her.
"Alia’s experience in supporting people who have experienced the kinds of crisis that we are going to be responding to is not something that can be replicated," said Lyman-Torres.
Henton-Williams’ position coordinates between the Family Crisis Intervention Team, or “FACIT;” the Victims Assistance Unit, or VAU; the Homicide Response Team; and the Crisis Response Team. Lyman-Torres said that one point person between all community response entities is what Rochester has been missing.
Henton-Williams said she is in the position to be the support that people may not even realize they need.
"When you experience a traumatic event, such as a homicide of a family member, clearly that’s nothing you can be prepared for," said Henton-Williams. "You have no idea what you’re supposed to be thinking. You don’t even know what you need in that moment, let alone the next day or two weeks later. We may be able to plant a seed, or speak a word, or pour into them, what they need at that time."
Henton-Williams has been in her position for four weeks so far. She said she is being trained on mental health crisis intervention, too, so she will be ready to help coordinate the Crisis Response Team as that is being developed. She said her front-line work, however, will be with the Homicide Response Team.