The Orange County Behavioral Task Force recently shared detailed recommendations with the Orange County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) for the development of a Crisis and Diversion Facility.
The task force was formed in April 2019 after thirty community stakeholders from the criminal justice, health care, behavioral health and housing system participated in the Orange County Sequential Mapping Workshop.
The workshop was designed to inform and address community-based responses to the involvement of individuals with behavioral health issues and intercepts within the criminal justice system.
The mission of the task force is to improve outcomes for those with behavioral health disorders by partnering with law enforcement, mental health, homelessness and substance use service systems.
“Very quickly, it became clear that the lack of a Crisis and Diversion Facility was a priority gap,” co-chair of the task force and Criminal Justice Research Department Director Caitlin Fenhagen said. “There are facilities like this in neighboring counties, but we didn’t have one despite having a world-class hospital here.”
In April 2021, the BOCC received findings from the task force stating that the Crisis and Diversion Facility will lead to necessary enhancements in Orange County crisis system capabilities and divert people who are in a behavioral health crisis from the emergency room or detention centers.
Since then, the task force has focused on the next phase of implementation for the Crisis and Diversion Facility through a specific focus on stakeholder use, operational needs and facility design specifications.
Tony Marimpietri, chairperson of the project, said the task force hopes to begin construction of the facility by 2023. The county has not yet identified a location for the facility but plans to do so after they determine preliminary design and costing.
Renee Price, Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, spoke with 97.9 The Hill about the task force’s work and recent presentation. She said the project is a community issue and added that the facility will support children as young as 4 years old.
“People need treatment. They don’t need bars, they don’t need handcuffs, closed doors,” Price said. “They need help. And that’s what we want to do.
Lead photo via Modern Healthcare.
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