Transforming Community Care Through the Behavioral Health Unit

Improving quality of life is a goal in both healthcare and policing.  ChristianaCare and the New Castle County Division of Police are working together to change lives in our community. 

The collaboration is called the Behavioral Health Unit, a groundbreaking partnership that pairs officers with social workers to transform crisis response. When 911 calls with mental health components come in, these specialized teams respond together. Officers ensure safety while social workers conduct comprehensive assessments to determine appropriate care possibilities beyond the limited options of jail or emergency rooms.

On this episode of For the Love of Health, New Castle County Division of Police Corporal Colleen Kearns and ChristianaCare Social Worker Delilah Colon describe the issues that led to the formation of the Unit, share facts and statistics about the people and families the program has impacted, and look forward to how this partnership is serving as a template for the future of policing around the state.

Links

• Hero Help – New Castle County Division of Police Addiction & Behavioral Health Unit
• Wilmington Police Partners in Care Program
• Newark Police Department Behavioral Health Unit
• Delaware Public Media, 2020: ChristianaCare to staff New Castle Co. Police Behavioral Health Unit

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Transcript

Introduction to the Behavioral Health Unit

Speaker 1 0:01

Christiana Care right there in-house has really made a positive impact in our relationship with the community.

Speaker 2 0:10

You're listening to For the Love of Health, a podcast about delivering care and creating health, brought to you by Christiana Care. And now here are your hosts.

Speaker 3 0:20

Hello, I'm Megan McGerman.

Speaker 2 0:21

And I'm Jason Tokarski. Welcome to another episode of For the Love of Health brought to you by Christiana Care.

Speaker 3 0:26

Improving quality of life is a goal in both health care and policing. Christiana Care and the Newcastle County Division of Police are working together to change lives in our community.

Speaker 2 0:36

The collaboration is called the Behavioral Health Unit and joining us today to share more information about mental health outreach to the community are Corporal Colleen Kearns and social worker Delilah Colon.

Speaker 3 0:46

Colleen and Delilah. Thank you both so much for being here today.

Speaker 1 0:49

Thank you for having us. It's a pleasure to be here.

Speaker 3 0:52

Talk to us about the mission and the value of the New Castle County Behavioral Health Unit.

Speaker 1 0:57

Behavioral Health Unit started because police officers saw a need and asked for help. Because police officers saw a need and asked for help, they were going out to behavior health calls addiction calls and not seeing an improvement. Because we didn't have the resources to do so, Our only option was arrest or transport you to the ER. So we were going out to the same calls over and over again and not seeing improvement. So our mission is really to improve the quality of life in the community by having Delilah's team be a partner with us and connecting people to the resources that they need and deserve.

Speaker 3 1:37

Talk to us about how this ChristianaCare and Newcastle Police partnership came to be.

Speaker 1 1:43

We received a federal grant and we put it out to bid and Christiana jumped in and said yes, we want to be a part of this, we want to support the police in providing services and we have the infrastructure to do so. So we were grateful to have such a professional organization step up and want to be a part of a police department. The partnership of having Christiana Care right there in-house has really made a positive impact in our relationship with the community.

Speaker 3 2:16

So just for clarification Colleen, you're clearly a corporal in the police department and Delilah, you are through Christiana.

Speaker 4 2:22

Care correct? Yes, I am. So our team is compromised of three social workers. In our unit we also have a case manager, so the social workers are the co-responders. We go out with our officers in the unit we have three Corporal Kearns, corporal George and Master Corporal Heckman, and we basically respond to 911 crisis calls.

Speaker 2 2:45

Walk us through a little bit of what this process is like. A call comes in. What happens after that? How do you both get involved from that point forward?

Speaker 1 2:54

So every 911 call that has a mental health component to it, we will either self-dispatch because we're listening to both radio channels, or the patrol officers will request us to assist with them. So once we're in route, we're doing background on that house, on the individual that we're going to, to see if we had any contact previously with them, what that contact was, if there's any resources that we need to call to get them in route their ACT team, their social workers, their family members that can help de-escalate a situation. And then, once we get there, us officers make sure that the scene's safe. So once it's what we call 10-1, it's calm, the person's no weapon, calm to the point that they could be agitated but they're willing to talk in a safe manner. Then we bring in the social workers and Delilah can talk a little bit about what their assessment looks like once they get on scene.

Speaker 4 3:49

So once we come in to see the individual, we basically complete a mental health assessment and basically that's a brief questionnaire. So we're asking them when was the last time they're asleep? Sleep is important in order for us to be able to do what we need to do day to day. Their sleep Sleep is important in order for us to be able to do what we need to do day to day. Have they eaten? Someone that hasn't eaten in a few days, a couple days, one day could be agitated because they're hungry but they don't have the resources available. So that's an important question.

Follow-up and Continuous Care

Speaker 4 4:16

We're also observing to see what that individual is wearing, what their affect is. Are they able to articulate what it is that they're feeling, what it is that they're experiencing? So once I gather that information, then I'm able to determine what's the next level of care. Does this individual need to go in for a psychological evaluation, at which point then we would transport that individual to the facility that is deemed appropriate for them. We also, at that time, give them our information so that they can call us upon discharge, because we don't get that information once they go in for an evaluation or a lengthy stay. So when we get them where they need to be for the appropriate level of care. We can do a follow-up with that individual to be able to inquire more about what is your need. How can we help you to get connected to the services that you need? At that point we will refer them to Christiana Kale Health Services or outpatient treatment or resources in the community that are close by that they're able to reach so that they can get the support that they need.

Speaker 1 5:28

And that's the cases that go really smooth and that's what we're always hoping for. But unfortunately sometimes out there the person is agitated to a point that they did commit a crime. So if we do have to arrest, our team follows up with them. We don't just say, hey, they get arrested and we're done with them. These guys come back to our headquarters with us, they go in turnkey, which is our holding cell, and they talk to them while they're in turnkey and we do follow up with their appointments or what numbers that they had to call to make those appointments, because sometimes it's not made prior to discharge. So these guys kind of break down all the barriers. Sometimes they set up logistic care services of, like transportation or telehealth. So they're making sure that the person that we interact with completely understand what the next steps are.

Speaker 3 6:57

So you have the behavioral health unit. Newcastle County also has the Hero Help program that works with addiction.

Speaker 1 7:03

So the one thing about Hero Help that I think is a little different than most programs is that we integrated peers into a police department, so people with lived experiences. So if me and Delilah are out on a 911 call and it has a component of substance use disorder, we can call our peers to come out on scene, meet us there. They can talk to them, hopefully be able to relate to them a little bit better than a person in a uniform wearing a gun, and the person can kind of meet them where they're at set up services or follow-ups. Or sometimes we even have the person right there on scene saying, yes, I'll go to detox, and then we start that process and they'll get in the car with us and we drive them right to the treatment service that was set up by our peers and our social workers and then we follow them until they tell us to stop calling them and they're doing well. So having the ability to have peers respond to the house with us has really improved that relationship with the community.

Speaker 2 8:05

Clearly, this program is doing a lot of good and is very successful. How do you measure that? How do you know what you're accomplishing in the community and how to focus as you continue forward?

Speaker 1 8:20

Measuring success in mental health is very difficult because success looks differently for each patient. But we look at how many contacts that we have. So over last year we had 2,100 contacts through the three teams and their case managers. 40 of them were diverted from incarceration, 1,100 of them were referred into care. So if they're getting the care, they're going to get off the 911 system, which is going to save resources, and the family is going to be supported better in the community. The University of Delaware measured our unit and over the past three years we saved the state of Delaware $3 million from spending on mental health services, 911, ems response and diversions from the ED and jail. So they put it as a number of three million. I put it in the stories of the families calling us and telling us how their lives improved and how the unit has helped them and how the social workers following up with them really they feel the support and they feel the connection to ChristianaCare and the police department.

Speaker 2 9:36

Do you have any patients that you know of that have changed their lives as a result of your interaction with them?

Speaker 4 9:42

We have a few.

Speaker 4 9:45

I can say that we had a lady, an elder living alone, who called 911 probably two and three times a day complaining of the same thing.

Speaker 4 9:57

We were able to have her stop calling 911 altogether1-1 altogether, but that was because I was calling her on a weekly basis. And I called her on a weekly basis to just check in with her and although it was the same story, she was connected to care. She was following up with her visits that she had to make to her appointments. She did have a support person that would come and check in on her, make sure that she had her groceries to her appointments. She did have a support person that would come and check in on her, make sure that she had her groceries, make sure that they transported her to her appointments. But calling her on a weekly basis decreased those 911 calls and over a year I was able to just kind of call her on a weekly basis. Then we decreased it to every other week and then it was decreased to once a month, to the point where the contact has ended. However, every three months I check in on her and she's doing well.

Speaker 3 10:51

Colleen, how long have you been in law?

Speaker 1 10:53

enforcement Total 21 years 14 with New Castle County with Newcastle County.

Speaker 3 11:02

The story Delilah just told of following up with that woman at first once a week and constantly being in contact, was that something you would even think about 20 years ago as a police officer.

Building Trust with Law Enforcement

Speaker 1 11:10

No, they would just be known as the nuisance call, like whose turn it was to go see her because there's nothing that we could refer them to. We would give them cards with phone numbers and say call one of these numbers. We didn't really have contact with the providers that we currently work with and now it's a partnership.

Speaker 3 11:31

The police officers who aren't in this unit, colleen, who are working patrol, who are the detectives? Different police officers within New Castle County. What is their feedback?

Speaker 1 11:41

The officers use us as a resource. So their email us say if they went to something at 2 o'clock in the morning and they believe it had either addiction or mental health nexus to it, we'll receive an email so that we can follow up in the morning with that family and see if we could provide resources or supports to them. The other thing that we've done over the years is attend roll call training so we can update the patrol units of change of policy or best practices of dealing with people in crisis, and then they give us feedback of what's working and what's not working. They also just walk into our unit and say, hey, I was working with this person. Do you guys know them and if so, what's going on and how can we support them? Because we're going out to them repeatedly. And then we work with the detectives unit After someone's a victim of crime. They could have PTSD, they could need other supportive services, so the detectives will come down and talk to us about one of their victims and see if we could reach out to them after the investigation is done to make sure that they get the needed mental health care after being a victim of crime. So we kind of make an open door policy. You can reach us by phone.

Speaker 1 12:59

All of New Castle County Police Departments have my cell phone. They can reach us by email. They can reach us by just walking in our office. We're on the first floor so you have to walk by our office to go to anywhere in the building. So they walk in our door and they talk to the social workers. The biggest feedback that I feel happened in New Castle County Police Department with our social workers is that our police officers started to come in and start asking for help themselves or for their family members. So they're trusting our social workers with their people. So I feel the program is really making an impact. And I think it's making an impact because the social workers constantly show up. They show up on calls, they follow up with emails. They are in constant communication with our officers. So there's good buy-in because of that feedback.

Speaker 3 13:53

Delilah, how does that make you feel to know that the trust has been earned there?

Speaker 4 13:58

It feels good. It feels good to know that we're there, we show up, as Colleen just said, and that we're there to provide support, we're there to provide resources, we're there to provide comfort, we're there to listen so that trust that's being built or being able to go out to a scene they see us. So we're present each and every day that we show up.

Speaker 2 14:23

Other policing organizations in the area are just starting to pick up on it as well, from the sounds of it City of Newark, city of Wilmington, both starting their own programs. You've got a lot of experience and a lot that you'd be able to share with them. What information would you give them as they're getting these programs off the ground?

The Future of Collaborative Policing

Speaker 1 14:38

One, be patient. It takes time and it takes time to get the buy-in from the officers, because Delilah and her team goes out and interacts with somebody, say today. That person might not say yes to services or resources for three or four months, so you might have repeat contact with them over the next few weeks. But when they say yes to treatment and you start seeing people get the help that they deserve and get off the 911 system, it really impacts the patrol function. They're back to doing what police officers should be doing. The mental health work should be with the social workers and the police work should be with the police work. But a lot of our individuals use 911 because they don't know where else to go. So it does take time for the social worker impact to show up on your 911 grid. So be patient and it's going to really impact your community in a positive way if you give it time.

Speaker 2 15:40

What other work do you see continuing to help change policing into the future, based on what you're seeing with this program alone?

Speaker 1 15:50

Change in policing is always going to happen. I feel like co-responding is the way of the future of policing. That hopefully by next year we'll have one co-responder in each squad and that we continue to grow the unit to support the needs of the future of policing. That hopefully, by next year we'll have one co-responder on each squad and that we continue to grow the unit to support the needs of the community.

Speaker 4 16:06

So, as a social worker, I think that the more police agencies that open up their doors collaborate with Christiana Care, of course, I think that it's going to make a difference in the community. It's going to make a difference in the community. We don't know what individuals face day to day, but I think that one of the things that is definitely making that change is being able to have a partnership with the agencies and having the social workers, case managers and peers readily available to support those in the community.

Speaker 3 16:43

Delilah and Colleen. Thank you both so much.

Speaker 4 16:45

It's our pleasure, thank you.

Speaker 3 16:47

We'll have more information about the New Castle County Division of Police Behavioral Health Unit, as well as the City of Wilmington Police Department and City of Newark Police Department's programs, in the show notes for this episode.

Speaker 2 16:58

You can always keep up with, for the Love of Health, on social media.

Speaker 3 17:04

Just search Christiana Care on your favorite platform.

Speaker 2 17:05

We'll be back in two weeks with another great conversation. Until then, thanks again for joining us For the Love of Health.