Policing & Incarceration
Laura worries often about her son Andrew, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia but refuses to take medication or go to therapy. She credits the co-responder team in Durango, Colo., where Andrew lives, with helping to keep him safe. “They understand him,” she says. Photo by Corey Robinson / Special to The Colorado Trust
It had been more than 24 hours since Laura last heard from her son Andrew. The 30-year-old, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia years earlier, was living on his own and chose not to take medication regularly or attend therapy. His family respected his desire for some independence, but they also agreed that they would show up at Andrew’s Durango apartment if they went more than a day without talking to or seeing him. (Laura requested to only use their first names to protect her son’s privacy.)
After repeated phone calls and knocks on Andrew’s front door were ignored, which was unusual, Laura decided to call in reinforcements for a welfare check. Though he’s never been a danger to others, Andrew sometimes struggles to concentrate or forgets to take care of himself—once, in a paranoid state in the middle of winter, he threw his portable heater outside—and his mother was concerned about his well-being.
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