The University of Arizona Crisis Mobile Team has launched a new initiative to better address mental health needs across campus. 

Patti Norris, the University of Arizona mental health clinician and liaison to the dean of students, has entered the position of co-responder for UACMT, working alongside the University of Arizona Office of Public Safety. 

Norris is a UA alumni and worked as a licensed professional counselor for over 23 years in the 

state of Arizona. She has been with Counseling and Psych Services as a mental health clinician since September 2018. Norris is dispatched as the first responder to mental-health-related calls focusing on crisis intervention and de-escalation. 

While the UACMT program was officially launched this February, the co-responder role started in July 2024. 

“If the goal is to de-escalate someone who’s experiencing a mental health crisis, sending police doesn’t always necessarily help and when we started talking with UAPD, it became clear that they were on the same page. They wanted experts out on the front lines to help them respond to those calls,” the University of Arizona Director of CAPS Aaron Barnes said.

In an interview at the UA mall, Barnes said he presented a program proposal to former President Dr. Robert C. Robbins in 2021 following increased mental health-related calls. As of this year, the university has approved the budget to fund two full-time mental health responder positions. 

The new additions include crisis network manager Norris and a full-time co-responder who has not yet been hired. 

Norris’s day-to-day shifts can look drastically different. She is equipped with a police radio and responds to a multitude of calls, some on her golf cart, others in a police vehicle. 

“The reality is, we see students in crisis. This is a moment in time. Our job is to not let that moment define them,” Norris said. 

Students at the UA mall felt similarly as a freshman Alexis Saffer said, “A police officer is scary for many people trying to talk to them and talk to them via an empathetic lens, but counselors, that’s their job and they know what’s due in the situations.”

The Threat Assessment Management Team offers new training for students and faculty in Edge Learning to handle targeted violence and de-escalation. 

Students can access mental health resources by contacting CAPS at 520-621-3334, scheduling an appointment online or dropping in at a CAPS location during operating hours. Employees can contact Employee Assistance Counseling — available 24/7 to all UA employees, their dependents and members of their households — at 877-327-2362. 

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