In January, the El Paso County Sheriffís Office announced the expansion of its mental health unit, beginning in mid-February. Jacqueline Kirby, media relations manager for the EPCSO, said the expansion will more than double the number of people working in the Behavioral Health Connect unit.The BHCON was launched on July 1, 2018, and pairs an EPCSO deputy with a licensed behavioral health clinician from UCHealthís Memorial Hospital.Robin Schawe is the clinician working on the original BHCON team. ìThe sheriffís office cares very much about mental health and we are trying our best to provide the best care for the community; and, by adding a second team, we want to reach more community members,î Schawe said.Kirby said prior to the expansion, the BHCON unit only had one deputy and one clinician working as a team. Not only does the expansion include another deputy and clinician team but also the unit now has a designated case manager to follow up on each call for service, she said.Carey Boelter, program manager for the BHCON unit, said the EPCSO receives between 200 and 300 mental health-related calls for service each month, and a single BHCON team can make it to about 50 to 70 of those calls.ìTwo teams is not even enough, but we have the funds to put a second team out right now,î Boelter said. ìOur team has seen a rise in calls partly because of a lack of sustainable resources in the eastern part of the county.îThe BHCON unit is funded by a grant through the Colorado Department of Human Services, which is set to expire June 30, 2022, but the EPCSO is always looking for other partners and additional grant funding, she said.
