City highlights CARE and Uplift after civil grand jury report, outlines plans to expand mobile crisis response

Eureka — City Manager Slattery reviewed key findings from the Humboldt County civil grand jury report on behavioral health and mobile crisis response and highlighted local programs that the report identified as effective, including Eureka’s CARE (Coordinated Alternative Response and Engagement) program and Uplift Eureka.

Slattery emphasized the value of stable funding and good data collection for mobile crisis services and said the city’s CARE program “demonstrates a successful proactive model for compassionately providing Eureka with community‑based high quality, easy access mental health and substance‑use mobile crisis services.” He described a case in which CARE and the Eureka Police Department coordinated to keep an individual safe overnight, followed CARE case management and ultimately helped that person secure housing and employment; staff read a client feedback quote praising the program.

Program details provided to council included current staffing (two case managers and one mental‑health clinician who started Aug. 12), co‑response hours (Monday–Friday, roughly 07:30–18:00 and on‑call after hours), and ongoing recruitment for a third case manager. Slattery and staff said implementation obstacles include aligning HIPAA and criminal‑justice information rules and limited staffing, and they reiterated a priority to secure stable funding and expand hours toward seven‑day coverage.

Council members praised the collaboration with Eureka Police Department and local partners, and asked about training and best practices learned from national conferences. Staff described participation in the Crisis Intervention Team international conference and ongoing standardized training regimens for mobile crisis responders.

Next steps: staff will continue recruiting and managing funding opportunities to expand CARE’s capacity, refine data collection, and pursue seven‑day coverage when resources allow.