The Behavioral Health Unit is a mental health collaborative consisting of Tewksbury, Billerica, Dracut, Chelmsford, and Tyngsborough Police Departments.
Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Tewksbury and Tyngsborough
The collaborative, funded by a grant from the Department of Mental Health, is changing its name to reflect a revamped and more focused mission of integrating law enforcement and behavioral health utilizing evidence-based best practices that reflect a co-response model.
The Behavioral Health Unit Police Collaborative will provide member departments with access to a co-response clinician who can respond to active calls for service, follow up with individuals post-crisis, and make referrals to community-based services.
Fully embedded into each department, the program provides a trauma-informed, highly trained co-response clinician for individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis.
Since 2016, the Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Tewksbury, and Tyngsborough Police Departments have worked to create a regional mental health collaborative aimed at diverting individuals with mental health and substance misuse disorders from being unnecessarily processed through the criminal justice system or through already overcrowded emergency rooms.
In addition to on-scene responses, the clinicians are:
- Accessible to police 24/7 for mental health consultation
- Available to community members for follow-up with police
- Available for follow-up with individuals post-crisis
- Able to make referrals for community-based services, such as for non-acute levels of care and case management
- Supporting community initiatives for better health, wellness, and mental health
More Information