According to the report, which analyzed the program’s first year in the city, from August 2021 through the end of July, its mobile service responded to about 2,000 calls—with an average of 170 calls per month—from the city’s callers.
The program responds to non-emergency mental health crises by dispatching “crisis counselors” in a van—in place of law enforcement agencies or emergency medical services.
“The health and safety of our residents is of the utmost concern to myself and the City Council, and that includes mental health,” Mayor Barbara Delgleize said in a press release. “The Be Well OC program has not only offered our residents with an additional mental health solution, but has also established itself as a critical resource to support our Public Safety personnel.”
The report found one in five adults in the city experiences a mental health crisis a day, but almost 60 percent do not receive the necessary care or resources.
Sixty-eight percent of calls within the last year were due to a mental health crisis, while only 6 percent were about alcohol or drug use, according to the report.
Most needs, about half, occurred in public spaces and private homes, while the least—about 1 percent—happened in schools.
In addition, between August 2021 and May 2022, 51 percent of the individual served were homeless, according to the report.
These types of calls were normally handled by the Huntington Beach Police Department, which can now be relieved of some duties to better serve other areas of the community. An Oct. 3 press release revealed city police receive over 15,000 mental health-related calls annually.
For example, one senior veteran with recurring mental health incidents has depended on the city’s police for assistance, according to the report. But when Be Well OC got involved, staffers were able to connect him with a Veteran Affairs office for treatment, freeing up police for other matters.
The mobile service works like this: Dispatchers receiving calls through 911 or the police department’s non-emergency line divert the calls to Be Well OC when they are determined non-emergency. These include calls regarding mental health crises, drug and alcohol abuse, death notifications, homeless outreach, welfare checks, suicidal ideation, and family disputes that don’t involve domestic violence.
One of two vans equipped with two counselors then responds using de-escalation tactics, including counseling and mediation.
When necessary, the mobile response team can give the caller transportation to other services, such as rehabilitation, counseling centers, or shelters, at no cost.
Be Well OC then follows up with the caller to ensure they are receiving regular support.
In one event detailed in the report, a family whose son had recently relapsed with heavy drinking after a 90-day detox program reached out to the city’s police and received help from Be Well OC. Although the young man initially rejected transportation to a detox program, continued engagement with the service has helped him remain sober for four months, according to the program’s personnel.
Besides Huntington Beach, the Be Well OC mobile response team currently serves three other cities—Garden Grove, Anaheim, and Newport Beach—and will cover Irvine, including the University of California–Irvine, in the near future, according to the program.
The Be Well OC system as a whole consists of mental health facilities in every city across Orange County to provide services ranging from prevention and early intervention to care and recovery.
