Broomfield PD, clinicians work together in evolving co-response program

Nov. 26—Broomfield first implemented a mental health co-response program in 2018, and the program has continued to evolve since its start. Now, the program is fielding an average of 45 calls a month.

The program is called BCORE, which stands for Broomfield co-responder. It's designed to prevent unnecessary incarceration and lead individuals in crisis to appropriate mental health services.

Broomfield Patrol Commander Kurt Wederquist took charge of the program in November 2019 and was first tasked with finding a new provider to contract clinicians from. He reached out to Community Reach Center and the two joined forced, though the impending COVID-19 pandemic led to a slow start for the newly revamped program. Wederquist said two clinicians were initially hired in March 2020, but one resigned due to health reasons. That clinician wasn't replaced until August, he said, so the majority of last year's call numbers reflect one clinician working 40 hours a week. Now, the program is staffed with a program manager and two clinicians who both work four 10-hour days a week. A mental health clinician is staffed seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

"On average, we're answering about 45 calls a month. Some months we're in the 60s, low 70s. In May, we had 76 calls, and that was just with one clinician," Wederquist said of the call load.

He explained some of the calls are clinicians responding to a call with the police officer and some of the calls are following up with individuals. He said in October the Broomfield Police Department fielded 4,827 calls for service, 44 of which were mental health calls.

"We average anywhere between 4,500 calls a month up to about 6,500 a month, just in general call load," he explained. "When I say mental health calls, I'm talking about people in a mental health crisis. ... People in a mental health crisis have a potential risk to themselves or to someone else."

Wederquist said calls for mental health come in from friends or family members, are sometimes self-reported or come from community members who pass someone they believe may be in crisis.

The clinicians work out of an office in Broomfield's Health and Human Services building, and are dispatched out when needed in their own vehicles. They are given police radios, and they went through a two-week training academy with the Broomfield Police Department, learning things like communicating with dispatch and how to approach a scene. Once someone calls police, an officer will do an assessment and then bring a clinician if necessary.

"The most important thing the clinicians learn is why do police do what they do, and how do they get the decision they come to," Wederquist explained. "We knew at some point in the process there would be a division of interests, so what an officer needs to do legally and what the clinician needs to do may be separate."

He said, ultimately, the officers will have the last say because there can be significant liability.

"We love this program and our cops love this program," he later said. "It gives them a subject matter expert to come in and assist them, and it's something that quite frankly we're not professionally trained in. We're trained in sort of triage, to come in and make a quick assessment — historically with no real option if they're not a danger to themselves or others or gravely disabled, I can't take you somewhere."

And if someone did pose a danger to themselves or someone else while in crisis, Wederquist said prior to this program the only place officers can take the individual is to an emergency department. Putting someone in crisis in the back of a police car and driving them to a hospital can "create as much or more anxiety than what they were experiencing before," Wederquist said.

With a few years of the program under his belt, Wederquist was able to share tips with other law enforcement. He said he was at a conference earlier this year and connected with a deputy with the Adams County Sheriff's Office who said she was trying to start a co-responder program and she had heard about Broomfield's program.

"I shared everything that I had in hopes that it would help her avoid some of the pinch points that always come with trying to start up a program," he said, later adding he shared the program's policy, operating procedures and contract details.

Adams County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Adam Sherman said their co-response program isn't yet up and running and there isn't an anticipated launch date.

"We reached out to a number of different agencies to get ideas and practices on how we could implement the program," he said. "We are fortunate and excited to launch this for the betterment of our community."

Community Reach Center contracts clinicians to co-response programs in Broomfield, Westminster and Louisville, Executive Director Rick Doucet said.

"It definitely is a better model than just sending the police out to a situation where you have someone in distress that my not need police involvement," he said. "It's empowering the department to do something that is different and is not typical of most departments."

Community Reach Center offers a program called Mental Health First Aid, designed to teach community members about mental health, how to identify someone who may be in distress and how to help.

"Because most people don't have an understanding of what mental health services are, or why somebody needs that," Doucet said. "It's a really good way to get a novice version of, 'OK, that's what they meant.'"

For more information on Mental Health First Aid visit communityreachcenter.org/resources/mental-health-first-aid/. If you or someone you know is in need of mental health resources, visit broomfield.org/3164/Mental-Wellness-Support.