Be Well OC's Mental Health Crisis Team Comes To Newport Beach

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — A new mobile response team took to the streets of Newport Beach this week to help deal with mental health crises involving the city's unhoused population.

City officials partnered with the nonprofit Be Well OC to provide Newport Beach with a two-person team made up of a trained mental health counselor and an emergency medical technician.

The team will respond to non-emergency and emergency calls related to mental health issues in the city, city officials said in a statement Thursday.

"The service provides direct mental health intervention and will reduce the need for police and emergency medical services in these cases," officials said.

Be Well OC will operate in Newport Beach 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

Although the team's primary mission is to address mental health issues among Newport Beach's unhoused population, it will also deal with calls related to residents and visitors having a mental health crisis, officials said.

Anyone under the care of the Be Well OC team may be taken to a "local crisis center, or a detox facility or shelter, as needed," according to a city statement.

The Newport Beach City Council approved the Be Well OC partnership in late September for a $1.2 million contract during the first year. The partnership is partially funded by a $132,000 anonymous donation and $717,000 in federal grant money, city officials said.