The A3 Community Crisis Initiative Event will be held via Zoom. Everyone is welcome to attend and participate using this link. The event will also be broadcast on Contra Costa TV.
Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS), civic leaders and community advocates will deliver an online community update about Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime (A3), a new system for delivering safe, appropriate care to county residents who are experiencing behavioral health emergencies.
A3, developed in partnership with local government, first responders, mental health advocates, patients and families, will be implemented with funds from Contra Costa County’s Measure X sales tax. The program is intended to connect people in crisis with the care they need in the moment, and reduce intervention by local law enforcement where clinical expertise is more appropriate.
“Our community recognized an unmet health need and has come together in an unprecedented way,” Contra Costa Health Director Anna Roth said. “When fully implemented, A3 will ensure that everyone in our community can receive culturally and clinically appropriate crisis services whenever help is requested because of a behavioral health emergency.”
A3, currently a pilot program, will expand into a 24-hour service over the next 18 months that sends crisis response teams including behavioral health professionals directly to behavioral health emergency calls, in coordination with other first responders.
The service will be accessed through 911 and through the Miles Hall Community Crisis Hub, a call center staffed by clinicians from CCHS who can triage calls, determine appropriate responses and dispatch crisis response teams. Miles Hall was a local youth who was tragically killed while experiencing a mental health crisis in 2019 during a law enforcement encounter.
CCHS is now developing and hiring staff for the program, supported by a one-time allocation of $5 million in Measure X funds for infrastructure, and $20 million in ongoing funds to support operation of the program, including staffing. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier also submitted two requests for Community Project Funding for behavioral health in Contra Costa County. If approved, more than $2 million in federal funding would be used to expand these services.
Information about A3 can be found at https://cchealth.org/bhs/crisis-response/. This website will be updated throughout 2022.
People experiencing a behavioral health crisis or anyone who needs to obtain help for others can currently access services by calling 911, 211, or our mobile crisis response at 1-833-433-2672.
