Vision:

Individuals living with mental illness in the community will have access to and be referred to programs at the appropriate level of service and no individual will be hospitalized or incarcerated unnecessarily.

Mission:

The Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT), in partnership with San Diego County Health and Human Services, San Diego County Law Enforcement, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI San Diego) and the Community Research Foundation (CRF), contributes to the well-being of individuals with mental illness by actively and compassionately assisting individuals in crisis who come to the attention of law enforcement to access appropriate services and to optimize outcomes through on-scene assessments and referrals.

PERT Cores Values:

At the heart of the PERT Mission Statement are the following Core Values:

• We believe that individuals with mental illness must be assessed with respect to their unique and personal needs and be referred to assistance that is appropriate to those needs.
• We believe that law enforcement and mental health workers have a duty and responsibility to individuals with mental illness and to the community as a whole to work together to assist those with mental illness to receive the level of service they require.
• We believe that on-scene partnership of mental health and law enforcement contributes to the well-being of individuals and to the well-being and protection of the community as a whole.
• We believe that outreach efforts to marginalized groups in the community assist individuals to meet identified needs and assist communities to recognize and address larger issues related to community health and safety.