AUSTIN, Texas — People with untreated mental illness are involved in at least one in four fatal police shootings, according to a study conducted by the Treatment Advocacy Center.

Researchers say reducing deadly encounters between on-duty law enforcement and people with mental illness should be a top priority. It is one reason police departments across the U.S. are now turning to crisis counselors to help respond to incidents where mental illness may be a factor.

Spectrum News anchor and National Mental Health Correspondent Dr. Nicole Cross went on a ride-along with an Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (EMCOT) counselor to see what happens when they are dispatched to a mental health crisis.

Liz Collins is a mental health first responder, giving in-person care to people in crisis.

“I’ve been at Integral Care for a little over a year now. I’ve been with EMCOT for about five months of that time,” Collins said.

“Hi, I’ve got a person for you to see over here,” a law enforcement officer said to Collins. “The deal is, she is bipolar, she is not taking her medications. She allegedly had a recent suicide attempt which was before this current arrest, which was on 7/6. If you know where Central Booking is, if you come down here. If you don’t know the counselor’s office, I can take you down where it is.”

“You know, jail is not a great place to be, especially in these kinds of suicide precautions,” Collins said. “We are going to Central Booking, which is where people go when they’ve been taken to jail, but they’re not housed yet.”

“It was hard for me to come into a jail or a prison for the first time. Being face to face with someone that is in jail or has handcuffs on, it was a very different thing to see the humanity in front of you,” she added.

Spectrum News cameras were not allowed in Central Booking for privacy reasons.

“We went in to speak with a woman who was going to be released into the community. The jail counselor asked us to come out to do an assessment to see if they would be safe. I went in, I did an assessment to determine that they were not a risk of harm to themselves or others. You know, I’ve had my own struggles with mental health in my life and I’ve had my own suicide attempts when I was a teenager. I think it just furthers my compassion and empathy our clients and everything that they are going through. Knowing my worst moment, what needs I had met and seeing clients in their worst moment on top of everything else that they have and just the resilience,” Collins said.

Mobile crisis response teams are part of a Biden administration initiative to tackle the nation’s mental health crisis. More partnerships between law enforcement and mental health agencies are forming across the U.S. Anyone experiencing a mental health crisis can call, chat, or send a text to 988, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.