Sunday, November 24, 2024
11/24/2024
The County of San Luis Obispo’s Behavioral Health Department is excited to implement its Community Action Teams (CATs) project as part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Law Enforcement and Behavioral Health Partnerships for Early Diversion grant program. Along with integrating the proposed early diversion CATs program into the existing system of care the County will launch a Law Enforcement and Behavioral Health Partnership collaborative, and an interagency plan to address the stages of early diversion using evidence-based practices, additional training, outreach, and expanding the continuum of behavioral health care. The program uses an outreach and early intervention strategy to assist law enforcement in safe, productive encounters with individuals demonstrating issues related to severe mental illness (SMI) or co-occurring disorders (COD). Much like the community-based Mobile Crisis program model, the CATs program embeds clinical staff alongside responding field officers in targeted areas to provide immediate, warm, and safe engagement with individuals exhibiting mental health or substance use challenges. While some encounters will be related to psychiatric crises, the focus of the CATs intervention will be to create a proactive, preventive approach to support LE who often have limited options other than arrest. The CATs will divert individuals from arrest and booking, and will expand mobile crisis and evaluation services which can then reduce impacts on the jail, emergency departments, and the inpatient Psychiatric Health Facility. Two CATs will be created and deployed. Two Behavioral Health Clinicians will be assigned to both the Sheriff’s Community Action Team, and a CAT partnership between the Atascadero and Paso Robles Police Departments. Each team will focus on identifying homeless and other high-risk (e.g. frequently encountered) individuals, and individuals in mental health crisis situations in the unincorporated and northern areas of the county. The Clinicians will dispatch with officers assigned to the CAT to help engage and assess individuals, and then provide access to services, referral, or assist in transport for those meeting the criteria for an involuntary hold. In addition to field interventions, the CATs’ Clinicians and law enforcement partners will establish a procedure to identify individuals with SMI or COD who are frequently or routinely encountered by LE or the criminal justice system. CATs will outreach to those individuals prior to their next encounter to offer services and support in order to reduce recidivism. The CATs project will serve 285 unduplicated individuals in ongoing treatment and care over the course of the five year grant. After the start-up year, six hundred (600) individuals will be engaged annually through contacts in the field, and by outreach to known individuals who are frequently encountered by law enforcement and have a SMI or COD. Each year, approximately 120 will be provided with screening, brief intervention and referral contacts and 60 unduplicated clients will receive ongoing treatment and wellness care.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
