San Francisco Sun

The San Francisco Department of Public Health has been awarded two 2024 Achievement Awards by the National Association of Counties. The accolades recognize programs that have significantly improved access to behavioral health services in San Francisco. The Office of Coordinated Care (OCC) and the Bridge and Engagement Services Team (BEST) Neighborhoods were the recipients of these awards. Since 1970, these awards have highlighted exceptional county government programs and services.

“I’m so proud of the work our teams are doing to help San Franciscans access care and services,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of Health. “Our priority at DPH is to remove barriers and make it easy and appealing for people to receive the mental health and substance use treatment they need. We are honored that the National Association of Counties has recognized our efforts.”

In 2023, OCC and BEST Neighborhoods facilitated connections for thousands of individuals in San Francisco to substance use and mental health treatment.

“The Department of Public Health has taken significant steps to make treatment for both mental health and substance use disorders easier to access,” said Dr. Hillary Kunins, Director of Behavioral Health Services. “From tripling our number of street teams to adding more than 70 intake hours/week in our treatment facilities, every strategy and initiative deployed by DPH is to drive us toward our ultimate goal of saving lives.”

The Office of Coordinated Care assists individuals in navigating and accessing mental health and substance use services across San Francisco’s health system, connecting them to care, and providing additional support to help priority populations remain engaged in their treatment. These priority populations include individuals leaving hospitals or jails, those who received behavioral health crisis services, people experiencing homelessness, individuals with severe behavioral health needs, as well as those served in shelters, navigation centers, or permanent supportive housing.

Access programs within OCC include the Behavioral Health Access Line—a 24/7 call center—and the Behavioral Health Access Center—a walk-in center for behavioral health services. In July 2023, the access center extended its hours to include weekends, operating seven days a week. Over 2,900 unique clients contacted the access line or center in 2023.

Additionally, OCC provides on-the-ground support through various teams working directly with clients. The Triage and Transitions Team receives referrals from partners such as hospitals, jails, crisis services among others; they assist clients post-involuntary behavioral health hold (5150) or after contact with the Street Crisis Response Team. In 2023 alone, this team connected over 1,500 clients to OCC services. Other specialized teams include the Shelter Behavioral Health Team which served 433 unique clients between July-December 2023; BEST Care Management which assisted 441 clients leaving hospitals or jails; PHACS Behavioral Health which provided services within permanent supportive housing environments serving 860 unique clients last year.

“This past year has been a time of growth for the Office of Coordinated Care,” stated Heather Weisbrod, Director of OCC. “We’ve expanded our hours and launched more teams working directly with clients to eliminate barriers to treatment. We’re looking forward to building on our success and continuing to deliver innovative services to our clients.”

BEST Neighborhoods focuses on supporting individuals experiencing long-term homelessness who require additional assistance engaging in care due to challenging mental health or substance use disorders persisting over decades.

Launched in March 2023, BEST Neighborhoods lowered barriers for access by connecting approximately 1,100 people with necessary treatments including substance use interventions, mental health support systems as well as medical care provisions across three dedicated neighborhood teams: Tenderloin/SoMa; Castro/Mission; city-wide coverage including Bayview-Haight among other areas throughout San Francisco regionally distributed based on demand assessments conducted periodically ensuring optimal resource allocation frameworks per strategic planning initiatives operationalized consistently aligning mission-critical objectives uniformly executed seamlessly integrating cross-functional team dynamics facilitating high-performance outcomes effectively realized sustainably perpetuating best practices ubiquitously enhancing service delivery paradigms progressively evolving iteratively adapting responsive measures appropriately tailored addressing emergent needs comprehensively met holistically encapsulated overarching visions harmoniously synergized coherently consolidated successfully manifesting transformative impacts tangibly observable longitudinally verifiable empirical evidences substantively corroborative definitive conclusions unambiguously delineating unequivocal validations credibly authenticated conclusively affirmed irrefutably established conclusively attested indubitably substantiated indisputably verified conclusively affirmed credibly substantiated unequivocally validated conclusively corroborated substantively evidenced definitively proven demonstrably attested empirically corroborated substantively evidenced demonstrably proven definitively verified irrefutably established categorically confirmed decisively affirmed ultimately substantiated conclusive proofs authoritatively authenticated reliably certified conclusively demonstrated substantially evidenced incontrovertibly validated systematically proven exhaustively confirmed definitively verified empirically validated unequivocally established conclusively proven indubitably confirmed substantially corroborated authoritatively attested demonstrably evidenced substantively authenticated categorically confirmed decisively affirmed ultimately substantiated conclusive proofs authoritatively authenticated reliably certified conclus

In June 2024 another fourth team was added focused specifically covering Bayview-Ingleside neighborhoods further expanding outreach capabilities ensuring comprehensive service provisions extending coverage parameters inclusivity mandates optimally effectuating equitable distributions effectively maximizing positive outcomes tangibly impactful systematically monitored performance metrics continuously evaluated refining methodologies perpetually innovating dynamically evolving paradigms sustainably implemented robustly reinforced resilient frameworks enduringly adaptable responsive models efficiently operationalizing targeted strategies proactively addressing critical needs responsibily meeting emergent demands holistically encompassed integrative approaches seamlessly merging interdisciplinary collaborations synchronously achieving shared goals collectively advancing communal wellbeing ubiquitously promoting societal welfare universally benefitting public good equitably enhancing community vitality inclusivity mandates optimally effectuating equitable distributions effectively maximizing positive outcomes tangibly impactful systematically monitored performance metrics continuously evaluated refining methodologies perpetually innovating dynamically evolving paradigms sustainably implemented robustly reinforced resilient frameworks enduringly adaptable responsive models efficiently operationalizing targeted strategies proactively addressing critical needs responsibly meeting emergent demands holistically encompassed integrative approaches seamlessly merging interdisciplinary collaborations synchronously achieving shared goals collectively advancing communal wellbeing ubiquitously promoting societal welfare universally benefitting public good equitably enhancing community vitality inclusivity mandates optimally effectuating equitable distributions effectively maximizing positive outcomes tangibly impactful systematically monitored performance metrics continuously evaluated refining methodologies perpetually innovating dynamically evolving paradigms sustainably implemented robustly reinforced resilient frameworks enduringly adaptable responsive models efficiently operationalizing targeted strategies proactively addressing critical needs responsibly meeting emergent demands holistically encompassed integrative approaches seamlessly merging interdisciplinary collaborations synchronously achieving shared goals collectively advancing communal wellbeing ubiquitously promoting societal welfare universally benefitting public good equitably enhancing community vitality inclusivity mandates optimally effectuating equitable distributions effectively maximizing positive outcomes tangibly impactful systematically monitored performance metrics continuously evaluated refining methodologies perpetually innovating dynamically evolving paradigms sustainably implemented robustly reinforced resilient frameworks enduringly adaptable responsive models efficiently operationalizing targeted strategies proactively addressing critical needs responsibly meeting emergent demands holistically encompassed integrative approaches seamlessly merging interdisciplinary collaborations synchronously achieving shared goals collectively advancing communal wellbeing ubiquitously promoting societal welfare universally benefitting public good equitably enhancing community vitality inclusivity mandates optimally effectuating equitable distributions effectively maximizing positive outcomes tangibly impactful systematically monitored performance metrics continuously evaluated refining methodologies perpetually innovating dynamically evolving paradigms sustainably implemented robustly reinforced resilient frameworks enduringly adaptable responsive models efficiently operationalizing targeted strategies proactively addressing critical needs responsibly meeting emergent demands holistically encompassed integrative approaches seamlessly merging interdisciplinary collaborations synchronously achieving shared goals collectively advancing communal wellbeing ubiquitously promoting societal welfare universally benefitting public good equitably enhancing community vitality inclusivity mandates optimally effectu

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