A $1.2 million contract to fund a mobile mental health crisis team to address local emergencies was approved by the Newport Beach City Council on Sept. 28. The initiative is set to launch this coming December for an initial one-year term.
The program, Be Well OC, is a collaboration with the city and Mind OC, a local nonprofit organization. Be Well OC will consist of two-person teams of experienced crisis counselors and paramedics. The teams will be working 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
The teams will respond to both 911 and non-emergency mental health calls, of which the city receives about 4,500 per year. While police typically field these calls, they often do not have the training nor time to handle such emergencies.
“If you don’t have shelter and you don’t have food… people act out. Our response has been to call the police. But, police aren’t trained for this. It’s not in their wheelhouse,” Newport Beach Mayor Brad Avery said.
After the team makes contact with someone in crisis, they will work with local authorities to ensure that the person receives proper care from a crisis center, shelter or detox facility.
Funding for the program stems from a number of different sources. An anonymous donation of $132,000 will offset van and set-up costs, and the rest of the funding will come from a combination of federal grants and money currently allocated for the city’s homeless shelter operations.
Be Well OC will supplement efforts by the city to address homelessness, an issue which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Newport Beach also recently gave nonprofit group Trellis International a grant to hire teams of homeless people to beautify the community by removing graffiti and picking up trash while compensating them for their work. Their goal is to help homeless people transition back into steady jobs.
“The goal of ending homelessness isn’t just to bring people off the streets temporarily,” Councilman Will O’Neill said. “The concept of teaching the person to fish rather than just giving them a fish is ancient. Trellis is a well-run organization filled with dedicated staff and volunteers whose program provides the dignity of work to people as they transition from homelessness.”
Garden Grove and Irvine are also in the process of designing similar programs.
Elaina Martin is a City News Intern for the fall 2021 quarter. She can be reached at elainarm@uci.edu.
