BHCore supports program innovation to inform behavioral health response teams by providing training and professional development opportunities to share learnings and review best practices, and a resource library of policies and protocols.
Our program innovation efforts are focused on three areas:
- Fire/EMS-led, field-based overdose response – A growing number of fire departments administer buprenorphine in the field to manage withdrawal symptoms after an overdose or resuscitation. BHCore supports three fire departments experimenting with ways to administer medications and connect individuals to care, post-overdose, to promote recovery.
- 988 Collaboration – To be effective, crisis response must integrate many approaches: First response, co-response, alternative response, and behavioral health-led teams. BHCore supports two fire departments promoting collaboration between 911 and 988 dispatch teams so that individuals in distress receive an effective response no matter what number they call.
- Fire departments as behavioral health agencies – Fire departments that provide behavioral health services often rely on grants and other kinds of one-time funding to support their programs. They need reliable sources of revenue. BHCore supports three fire departments seeking behavioral health agency designation that will enable them to bill for services and apply for 988 response designation.
In the future, BHCore will also focus on compiling data, practices, and programs that study and support an integrated police and fire response.
New report outlines impact of grants to nine Fire/EMS agencies
The Washington state legislature provided $2 million in the 2023-2024 legislative session to fund non–law-enforcement agencies operating co-response programs. The goals of the innovation grants are to build behavioral health capacity and promote high quality training. Read the full report here.