Laguna Beach Be Well OC Mobile Mental Health Service Kick-Off and Ribbon Cutting August 1

LAGUNA BEACH, CA – The City of Laguna Beach will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. to celebrate the start of new Be Well OC mobile mental health services in the City.

The Laguna Beach City Council approved a partnership with Be Well OC in April to establish a Mobile Response Team providing community mental health and wellness in the City. The program was approved for a two-year pilot and will officially launch on August 1, 2023.

Laguna Beach is the sixth city in Orange County to adopt a Be Well Mobile Response model, joining Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Garden Grove, Anaheim, and Irvine. The program incorporates Be Well staff into a city’s network of first responders and enables 911 dispatchers to route mental health and substance use crisis calls to the Be Well Mobile Crisis Response Team. Skilled in de-escalation, crisis intervention, counseling, and mediation, the Be Well Mobile Crisis Response Team effectively addresses the client's emotional and social well-being. If needed and wanted by the client, the team can transport them for additional care.

Funding for the program includes a combination of public and private funding. Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris secured $1.5 million in state funding to support the program, and the City of Laguna Beach also received $405,111 in CARES Act funds from the County to cover the City’s contribution. The program is also supported by a $200,000 gift from the Ueberroth Family Foundation, which covers the capital investment of the mobile van and initial community outreach efforts.

If you’re going:

What: Be Well OC Ribbon Cutting
When: Tuesday, August 1, 2023, at 5:00 p.m.
Where: Main Beach Cobblestones, Laguna Beach, CA