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BHS presents Mental Health SF expansions: coordinated care, respite, overdose response and hiring plan
Summary
Director Hilary Conins told the Health Commission about expanded Behavioral Health Services programs funded in part by Prop C — including pharmacy-hour expansions, an Office of Coordinated Care, psychiatric respite capacity at Hummingbird Valencia, a 24/7 street crisis response and the SWORT street overdose response team — and outlined hiring and data-dashboard plans.
Dr. Hilary Conins, Director of Behavioral Health Services, briefed the Health Commission on Oct. 19 on the department's priorities, performance metrics and program expansions under Mental Health SF and Prop C funding.
"Our goals are to increase quality of life and reduce mortality among all people in San Francisco with serious mental illness and or substance use issues," Conins said, laying out priorities that include reaching people experiencing homelessness, reducing overdose deaths and strengthening the behavioral health workforce.
Conins said BHS served roughly 20,000 people for treatment in the prior fiscal year and provided prevention and early-intervention services to another roughly 20,000, for more than 100,000 individual services across programs. She described two program highlights: a pharmacy expansion intended to increase hours and access to life-saving pharmacotherapies for people experiencing homelessness, funded under Proposition C; and an Office of Coordinated Care to provide real-time program inventory, enhance case management and coordinate with psychiatric emergency services and jail health.
On respite and residential capacity, Conins reported on Hummingbird Valencia, which opened in spring and reported 134 overnight admissions and nearly 800 day-program participations as of Oct. 9, with a reported daily overnight capacity of 26.
She said overdose deaths remain high and disproportionately affect Black San Franciscans and people experiencing homelessness and described SWORT (the Street Overdose Response Team), operated jointly with San Francisco Fire Department. "The team includes a paramedic and a street medicine clinician," Conins said. SWORT offers naloxone distribution, buprenorphine initiation, supportive counseling and referrals; early metrics showed high acceptance of harm-reduction supplies (139 of 183). The team is expanding staffing, including peer specialists, and intends to provide up to 24/7 coverage with consistent follow-up within 72 hours after nonfatal overdoses.
Conins also reported a hiring plan: 61 prioritized new positions with 29 filled (two leadership and 27 clinical/other) and 32 in progress. She said BHS has instituted a batch-hiring process with city HR to speed recruitment of behavioral health clinicians and health-worker series positions, and that internship and pipeline programs are in development.
Commissioners pressed for more granular metrics and timelines; Conins committed to providing additional dashboards and program-level reporting at future updates.
What's next: Conins said the department will refine key performance indicators and present more granular metrics on access, time to entry and program outcomes at subsequent commission meetings.
