VIP Crisis Consultation was developed and built by Founder Victoria Perisee-Johns in 2020. Victoria has worked for 18 years in social services with the last 5 years as a Police Crisis Clinician. In her most recent position Victoria learned how to successfully establish a collaborative working relationship within police departments, the community, as well as other agencies providing services to residents. Victoria saw the potential for collaborative relationships making a significant impact on the way law enforcement serves the community and as a result VIP Crisis Consultation was created. 

It is highly unlikely that police will ever be able to completely disengage from mental health, social services, and crisis calls for service. In an effort to better serve the community, collaboration is key. With recent calls to defund the police it seems more than appropriate for departments to incorporate professionals who can better help in situations where officers are not trained in order to better serve the community. It has been uncommon practice for police departments to incorporate outside professionals such as mental health clinicians / social workers into their work; however, now that does not appear to be the case. When social service professionals are properly integrated into police departments, they can provide community members with the much-needed services they are seeking. Law enforcement unfortunately in these times do not have many options as they are not trained nor equipped to handle social services needs which oftentimes residents rely on police for. This gap in services oftentimes lead to band-aid approaches which at the time creates an illusion of change and hope; however, only masks the problem temporarily. With properly trained mental health clinicians / social workers assisting officers with addressing community needs, police department can focus on building a better and stronger relationship with residents.