MSP Airport has a new way to help people in crisis

As many as 100,000 people move through Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport each day and a growing number of them are struggling with mental health challenges.

Now, Victoria Romberg is at MSP to help. She’s the first social worker to respond alongside airport police to help travelers, workers and others dealing with everything from homelessness and substance abuse to the stress and anxiety traveling can bring.

“The airport is a unique place. There are all kinds of different individuals there, just like anywhere else, who need help,” Romberg said of her latest assignment.

Her new post is the result of a recent partnership between Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Airports Commission to bring the popular embedded social worker program to MSP. It’s now one of the few airports in the U.S. to pair mental health experts with law enforcement to improve how officers respond to people who are struggling, in a place where security is paramount.

Airport police have jurisdiction not just in and around the terminals, but throughout the public transit stations, hotels and other structures that make up MSP. That means Romberg could respond to anything from people seeking refuge on a light rail train because they’re homeless to an employee struggling with anxiety or a traveler acting erratically because of stress.

“People may not realize right away that their mental health is causing some underlying issues,” such as substance abuse, homelessness or job loss, Romberg said.

A big part of her previous work embedded with emergency dispatchers was following up with residents. Romberg acknowledged that will be harder in her new job, where many travelers are passing through.

“It can be challenging, but a lot of what social workers do is gather resources and figure things out,” she said.

The partnership came together after officers from MSP shadowed members of a crisis intervention team at the Los Angeles International Airport to see how social workers can improve interactions with the public.

The goal is to reduce arrests and incidents when force is needed and make it easier to connect struggling people with social support services. Airport police Lt. Frank Coburn hopes his colleagues will learn new skills from working with Romberg and, if the partnership is successful, it may expand.

“We are always looking for things we can do better to keep people out of the criminal justice system,” Coburn said. “There’s a real need here.”

Several metro communities, including Minneapolis, have had success pairing social workers with first responders. Ramsey and Washington counties both have similar efforts.

Hennepin County launched its program in 2019 with six cities. It has grown into partnerships with 31 police departments and 45 municipalities. Last year, embedded social workers interacted with 7,500 residents and connected 5,000 with community services, according to county officials.

The embedded social worker program Romberg is part of costs $4.1 million a year and it continues to grow with strong support from the County Board. “Social workers are invaluable to changing people’s lives,” Commissioner Angela Conley said.

Advocacy groups like the National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota support having more social workers responding to people struggling with their mental health.

But Sue Abderholden, the organization’s executive director, emphasized that Minnesota has had mental health response units, which are not tied to police, across the state for nearly two decades. In some communities, it can be hard for residents to differentiate between the two systems.

A social worker paired with a police officer can help de-escalate dangerous situations, but it is not always the best way to deal with someone in crisis. “You can have someone who is not acting dangerous,” she said. “You don’t need a police officer for that.”