Michael Botieri of Cordata’s O2SL & QRT National helped to train stakeholders during a two-day Situation Table Training session in Brattleboro, Vermont.
(Photo Courtesy Cordata’s O2SL & QRT National)
Soaring crime statistics and fatal overdose rates in Vermont prompted law enforcement and government officials to explore innovative strategies.
Among those new approaches, Cordata Healthcare Innovations, a Cincinnati-based company with roots in Massachusetts, has been helping to save lives in four Vermont communities — Brattleboro, Bennington, Rutland and Springfield — and is set to expand to four more over the next year.
Cordata will soon begin training representatives from dozens of various public safety, public health and community-based agencies in Burlington and St. Johnsbury, as well as two other yet-to-be-announced communities in the Green Mountain State. Michael Botieri, Scott Allen, and Nan Franks, of Cordata’s O2SL & QRT National, will deliver the next two Situation Table Trainings, as they and their team of Certified Situation Table mentors have with the organization’s previous four Vermont client towns and cities.
Following successes in Brattleboro, Bennington, Rutland and Springfield’s Tables, having launched in early 2025, Cordata hopes to further broaden their success in Vermont. The Situation Table model is a strategy that facilitates multi-agency engagements for individuals and/or families that are at Acutely Elevated Risk (AER). The goal of the community collaborative Tables is to break down organizational barriers and work collectively to provide wrap-around services to those most in need, based on risk categories and risk factors.
Michael Arace, Community Corrections District Manager for Springfield’s Department of Corrections, Probation and Parole, who has served as Table Chair since the Situation Table was introduced to his region. He said the strategy has been “absolutely” successful.
“We have seen a decrease in overall criminal activity in the community,” Arace said. “We have seen a significant increase in partnerships and interventions being pushed out to those in need. In my role as the District Manager of a Probation and Parole office, this has been nothing short of amazing. The Situation Table provides an avenue for a probation officer to access all service providers and create an on-the-spot plan of action. Without the Table, this work could take weeks and countless hours invested by the probation officer.”
Arace wholeheartedly recommends launching the initiative in other Vermont communities.
“Communities and agencies are doing themselves a disservice by not having a Situation Table and not being fully invested in the process,” Arace said. “Having several agencies and service providers in the same room at the same time speaking about the same thing, all with the same goals, is amazing.”
Since Springfield implemented its Situation Table, Arace has become convinced that this model could benefit communities nationwide by addressing issues at their source and reducing repeat offenses.
“Accountability for me is the biggest win and what makes this process/approach unique,” Arace said. “Never before have these agencies and partnerships had face-to-face accountability. I see that people feel a greater sense of ‘duty to serve,’ and we will see the benefits of the accountability that the Table provides in our communities. There is no other place or platform where this level of provider and partner communication, collaboration and accountability happen. The Situation Table brings that.”
Brattleboro Police Department’s Assistant Chief of Police Jeremy Evans has helped to implement the Situation Table in his town.
“Our partnership with Cordata has been nothing short of fantastic,” Evans said recently. “They are extremely knowledgeable, and perhaps even more important is that they believe in what they are doing. They are consistently showing up and collaborating to make our work even better. We thoroughly appreciate their knowledge, willingness, and professionalism. I don’t want them ever to leave!”
The Situation Table trainings have been sponsored and funded through Vermont Gov. Phil Scott’s Public Safety Enhancement Team (PSET). Four pilot sites were initially identified through the PSET Consortium.
“Cordata has been an amazing partner in helping us collaborate with external organizations,” Evans said. “They not only brought in a training, but they brought in an entire framework that helped all organizations recognize why the collaboration is beneficial and how to do it in a mutually agreeable way. With our weekly situation table, the Cordata team still checks in weekly and provides input and support on how to make things even better.”
The governor’s plan includes goals that the Situation Table is specifically designed to meet.
“The programming has been successful so far,” Evans said. “While true success will take time, we are definitely seeing the rewards of the enhanced collaboration beginning to take effect.”
Cordata provides training focused on equipping the attending agencies with the skills and lessons necessary to mobilize and launch their Situation Table. A Situation Table is a unique, risk-based rapid triage model that brings together multiple human service providers to address situations where individuals and families face a specific AER threshold.
Situation Tables comprise representatives from public safety agencies, public health agencies, service providers, peers with lived experience and other community partners.
Through the model, an individual or family at AER is referred to the Situation Table by a public safety, public health, healthcare, community-based organization or other partner to work collaboratively to initiate outreach and engagement before a crisis occurs. The Table participants collaborate and discuss the identified risk factors and potential wrap-around services that can be provided across multiple sectors at the Table. When a consensus is reached, the Table will identify a specific team of agencies to help engage the individual or family and connect them to services, provide them with support, and show them that they care.
The Situation Table model was developed in Canada by founders of the Global Network for Community Safety, a Canadian-based firm that focuses on innovations to improve community safety and well-being across Canada and in the U.S. Through a partnership between Cordata and Global Network, the organizations work cross-border to collectively provide multi-agency community responses to address issues of marginalization, for pre-crisis identification and crisis interventions, while creating pathways to care and support. Their combined expertise and suite of services — based on internationally recognized best practices — help provide communities with tailored responses to meet their current needs and the ability to rapidly adjust to an evolving landscape of risk factors, including those around substance use disorders, mental health disorders, and related social health issues.
Cordata’s Senior Community Engagement Leaders, Daniel P. Meloy, Mike Botieri, and Scott Allen, engage communities, counties, and state organizations across the country to help them get started with building a Situation Table. So far, more than 150 Situation Tables have been launched throughout Canada and the United States.
“These testimonials are reflective of the work we’re doing,” Allen said. “One thing is clear, after each of the training sessions for each of the Tables, each one has been more enjoyable than the last. All of our Vermont tables are working at a high level of efficiency. And that doesn’t always happen so quickly.”
“Our work across Vermont is already starting to show results,” Botieri said. “Although it will take some time to gauge our progress in the Granite State, the input we’ve received so far has been overwhelmingly positive and encouraging.”
“It takes courage to learn something new and implement a new approach to combating societal problems like widespread addiction and an influx of crime,” Meloy said. “Gov. Scott should be commended for his bravery and vision. Fixing these complicated problems requires ambitious messaging from the top. I’d like to think that we’re helping to bolster the quality of living for all Vermont residents, and I look forward to training more Vermont communities on our Situation Table model.”
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