Crisis Response Team Program Coordinator

The Dean of Students is seeking a Crisis Response Team Program Coordinator. This is a full-time 1.0 FTE, 12-month, professional faculty position.

Oregon State University’s (OSU) Community Wellness, Education & Safety Network aligns services and programs focused on crisis prevention, intervention, advocacy, situational stabilization, and assessment. This Network has created a Crisis Response Team Program that is called OSU Assist. This new Program Coordinator position is dedicated to building and coordinating the new OSU Assist program that provides a compassionate mobile crisis response for non-life-threatening, but crisis-related, emergent scenarios such as behavioral health crises and mental health welfare checks.  OSU Assist will be dispatched as an unarmed, first responder team, trained in behavioral health and crisis response.  OSU Assist may provide an in-person response, sometimes in lieu of or, when appropriate, in conjunction with law enforcement. OSU Assist will only respond to calls if there are no reports of weapons or threats of violence. The OSU Assist may also provide crisis response via phone or by other remote means.

This student-centric and trauma-informed response program will remain mindful of the unique nature of each individual and each situation or crisis and respond with care and appropriate resources. OSU Assist will be a critical resource in responding to matters such as welfare checks, non-violent conflict resolution and substance abuse or mental health crises. 

The Program Coordinator will oversee the program development, launch, and operations including hiring and training for, operating, and evaluating the newly created OSU Assist. 

This position requires strong collaboration among university departments and teams such as the Office of the Dean of Students, Counseling and Psychological Services, Student Health Services, the Office of Institutional Diversity, the Student Care Team, the Survivor Advocacy & Resource Center, the Threat Assessment Team, the Bias Response Team, the Department of Public Safety, Equal Opportunity & Access, University Housing and Dining Services and others.

The creation of this position is an acknowledgement that there are many crisis-related situations that may not require the presence of armed law enforcement. However, given the ambiguous nature of many crisis situations, it is essential that this position closely coordinate with both on-campus and off-campus public safety and licensed law enforcement units. 

Additionally, the position will lead efforts to educate and engage the university community on the “how” and “why” behind the newly created OSU Assist. The specifics around the fully built-out operations of OSU Assist have not yet been fully determined but a possible outcome is a 365 days a week, 24/7 mobile crisis response team available to serve the OSU community. 

This position will report to the Director of Student Care and will be located in the Office of the Dean of Students in the Division of Student Affairs.