CM Cabán on B-Heard program structure and peer involvement

Chairs, may I ask just a few questions on Be Heard?

Wait, can we, oh.

Okay.

Just because it hits the mental health portion, and I had to wait for health and hospitals to ask those.

Yeah, thank you.

Okay.

On Be Heard,

Is there a plan, like we saw on the website that there is a drop in eligible calls for FY25.

Do you have a plan to increase eligibility for those calls?

Like as one example, open to removing the limitation of EDPM only.

We're seeing other responders around the city have a much larger like scope of

call classifications that are eligible for their alternate responders.

Right.

So you have to remember that we, Health and Hospitals, doesn't run Be Heard.

I know.

We are proud to hire and train social workers, and we think our social workers do a great job.

But we don't do the operational part of Be Heard.

It's certainly a model that I believe in.

I think that if you want to de-escalate a situation, you want to send a mental health professional, and therefore I would want to send a mental health professional as often as possible.

To these situations and I do think that it could be a much larger group, but that requires operational changes across the city.

So, and according to you, so, and there's been confusion about this.

This is Beard moving to health and hospitals.

Is it going into the department?

So it's not going to be.

So at one time there was the proposal to move it to health and hospitals.

And, you know, that was not a negative on anyone.

That was just recognizing that it was challenging for fire to hire enough EMTs and paramedics.

And in the absence of that, there were not very many calls.

But that plan has changed.

And I think now the administration is looking at a variety of options.

And I think there are a variety of options.

Totally.

I think that really which department is not really the issue.

The issue is how do you efficiently get people who are not law enforcement frightening.

Yes.

But are mental health professionals to situations to de-escalate them as quickly as possible.

Here's my very last question, because it's not even just mental health professionals, but H&H uses peers in a myriad of programs, correct?

And that's because you find that peers provide something that nobody else can.

Correct.

There has been an increase in peers in a lot of different places, H&H, DOHMH.

It really gets celebrated.

What do you think about peers on Be Heard teams?

I mean, but people who live with mental illness and are part of those organizations are saying, we want peers on these teams.

I think it'd be great.

Great.

Thank you.

That's all I've got.

Thank you so much.