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Chester County expands behavioral-health response with new Human Needs Network
Summary
County officials outlined the Human Needs Network, a coordinated behavioral-health system combining a county-staffed 211 contact center, Holcomb Behavioral Health crisis lines, mobile crisis resolution teams and plans for a 24-hour crisis stabilization center; program rollout funded in part by ARPA support, officials said.
Chester County on Jan. 22 described a new, county-run behavioral-health response system called the Human Needs Network that combines a local 211 contact center, Holcomb Behavioral Health-operated crisis lines, mobile crisis resolution teams and plans for a 24-hour crisis stabilization center.
Pat Bockovitz, director of the county Department of Human Services, told the Board of Commissioners the network is built around three components: someone to talk to, someone to respond and somewhere to go. "The Human Needs Network at its core is to provide comprehensive, effective and accessible human services, brief response and information referral system for all Chester County residents," Bockovitz said.
Why it matters: the network centralizes crisis intake and response to route behavioral-health and homelessness calls to appropriate county teams and nonpolice responders. Bockovitz said the county contracted with PA 2-1-1 so incoming 2-1-1 calls directed to Chester County are answered by county staff in a contact center in the GSC during weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with after-hours coverage routed to a statewide call center to maintain 24/7 service.
Bockovitz reported operational volumes from the early rollout: the county contact center has averaged just over 1,100 incoming 2-1-1 calls per month, about 75 texts per month since texting began, and roughly 120 calls per month that indicate households experiencing or near homelessness. Holcomb Behavioral Health staff in the same contact room are averaging about 1,100 local-line calls per month and roughly 500 calls to 988. He added that mobile crisis resolution teams operated under contract with Woods Legacy have responded to emergency dispatches — 987 dispatches from the mid-May rollout through year-end 2024.
Bockovitz said the mobile crisis teams are typically a behavioral-health clinician paired with a certified peer specialist and are not law-enforcement-embedded: "Our model, unlike some places, is not law enforcement embedded. You call 988 and a team of a clinician and a certified peer specialist is coming. We work closely with law enforcement but we don't want necessarily law enforcement to show up," he said.
During questions from the dais about cold-weather options for people experiencing homelessness, Bockovitz told commissioners, "They should call 2-1-1," and said callers will be assessed for warm centers, code-blue facilities or referrals to expanded beds at local partners such as Anne's Heart in Phoenixville and the Community Youth and Women's Alliance in Coatesville.
Bockovitz said the initiative was made possible by county support through an ARPA application and thanked county staff and partner agencies for the rapid implementation. He also described work under way to open a 24-hour behavioral health crisis stabilization center where first responders could drop off or transition people in crisis.
The presentation concluded with commissioners expressing support for the program and asking staff to continue reporting operational metrics as the network scales.
