Text written by Annette Deigh, LCSW, who has been a member of TNT since it formed in 2020

The Philadelphia Treatment Not Trauma Coalition (TNT) was convened by licensed clinical social worker Nomi Teutsch in December, 2020 in response to the murder of Walter Wallace Jr., an African American man with mental health challenges, at the hands of Philadelphia Police. The murder of Walter Wallace Jr. on October 26th, 2020, weeks before the national presidential election of 2020, in essence, placed another spark plug in the already extremely tense relations throughout the country between police and Black and brown peoples; a tension that had been reignited by the slow murder that played out on screens everywhere across the nation, again at the hands of police, of yet another Black man. These men were from communities of people who loved them. Walter Wallace Jr. was from our community.

In the aftermath of the murder of Walter Wallace Jr., Nomi reached out to fellow health and human services professionals, to see who may want to join forces to do something about the systematic murders of Black and brown people at the hands of the police. Walter Wallace Jr. had a documented mental health issue. How could things have played out differently, if during his time of crisis, he was met with caring and capable mental health professionals, rather than the Philadelphia Police, armed with guns and a “shoot first, maybe ask questions later” mentality?

 The early members of TNT were able to recruit progressive members of Philadelphia’s City Council as partners in the effort to make sure that what happened to Walter Wallace, Jr. never happens again in Philadelphia. This group included Kris Henderson, executive director and co-founder of the Amistad Law Project, and Nikki Grant, policy director and co-founder of the Amistad Law Project. Kris and Nikki would early on, partner with Nomi to take the lead in continuing to move TNT forward.  

Since its formation, TNT has worked especially closely with Councilmembers Jamie Gauthier, Helen Gym, and Kendra Brooks to fight for funding for non-police mental health emergency responders in Philadelphia. This group was instrumental in making an impact on the Philadelphia FY21 Budget Season, securing ~$7 million in new funding for an overhaul of mobile crisis services in the city of Philadelphia. The work continues and TNT keeps growing in numbers and increasing its impact. Join us in our quest to secure and implement additional funding and services for mobile crisis services in the city of Philadelphia!!