Los Angeles County Strengthens Mental Health Services and Safety at Restorative Care Villages by Creating On-Site Behavioral Health Crisis Teams

Los Angeles, CA – Today,  the Los Angeles County Board Supervisor approved a motion authored by Chair Holly J. Mitchell, Supervisor to the Second District and co-authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn to provide additional support to Restorative Care Villages with trained and responsible crisis intervention teams to help quickly de-escalate and prevent violence, suicides or mental health crisis from occurring at restorative care village campuses.

 “The goal of this motion is to help ensure we are providing restorative care in a compassionate manner that keeps our patients, visitors, staff and local campus communities safe” shared Supervisor Mitchell. “These on-site Behavioral Health Crisis Teams will make life saving de-escalation and mental health services available when needed the most.”

“I have been a huge proponent of expanding these specially trained mental health response teams because I know how effective they have been in de-escalating what can be challenging situations” shared Supervisor Janice Hahn. “As we work to make these teams available to the public 24/7, we are also making sure our doctors and clinicians at the Restorative Care Villages at our County Hospitals can access them if any of their patients experience a mental health crisis.”

Several behavioral health crisis models exist, including in San Francisco where a mental health professional joins a crisis response team alongside a paramedic and peer support workers. Locally, the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, uses a Code Gold Behavioral Team that is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and includes five behavioral health nurses along with security staff trained in the Crisis Prevention Institute’s Non-Violent Crisis Intervention Model.

In 2017, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to move forward with the Restorative Care Village to help address the needs of some of the County’s most vulnerable populations providing wrap-around care for homeless patients after they are discharged from County hospitals. Later this year, four Restorative Care Villages are set to open on four of LA County’s medical campuses.

To read the full motion, click here.

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