New County Partnership Aims to Help Mentally Ill

A new Contra Costa County program is pairing police with clinicians to ensure there’s a follow-up after officers encounter people with mental illnesses, Contra Costa Health Services announced today.

Out of the arrangement comes a Mental Health Evaluation Team, which includes three full-time health clinicians from a division of the health agency and one officer each from the Concord, Pittsburg and Richmond police departments.

Contra Costa County’s Board of Supervisors on Sept. 22 approved the partnership. It will continue until terminated by the parties involved, according to a memo issued to supervisors by Contra Costa Health Services.

Officers from the participating departments, as well as neighboring police agencies, can refer people they encounter with mental health issues, according to the health agency.

Officers and their partnering clinician can then contact the person to do welfare checks and offer referrals to outpatient treatment through Behavioral Health Services, an arm of the county health agency. This is hoped to reduce violent encounters between police officers and the mentally ill, according to the health agency’s memo to supervisors.

Behavioral Health Services Director Cynthia Belon said delivering these services proactively does even more than that - it keeps the whole community safe.

“(It) helps break a cycle of crises for people who are in frequent need of emergency services because of mental illness,” she said. “It provides an avenue to treatment they might not otherwise be able to access.”

The aim is also to reduce public costs associated with repeated police visits and emergency psychiatric treatment, the health agency’s officials said. A $380,000 state grant funded the three officer positions. Behavioral Health

Services received a 3-year, $550,000 grant from the California Health Facilities Financing Authority for its staff.

Similar models to this new police-clinician partnership have been established in Oakland, Berkeley and San Mateo.

On Oct. 6, Richmond police said they experienced one of the program’s first successes. In a Facebook post, Richmond police officials said the new Mental Health Evaluation Team officer helped remove a firearm from the possession of a possibly suicidal individual.

The subject was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation and the officer worked with hospital staff to find his weapon, police said. Richmond police officials said they are “encouraged and excited for this new program that will certainly help the residents in our community.”

--Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock