GARDNER — President and CEO Matthew Page-Shelton is pleased to announce that the Front Line Initiative has become Front Line, an independent behavioral health company providing police co-response and deflection services as well as community-based training.
The new company’s focus is on aiding communities in and outside of Massachusetts interested in improving the mental wellbeing of their community members. The company will offer consultation services, program design/implementation services, direct clinical services, as well as training and support services.
Additionally, Front Line has launched its own website at http://frontlinesvs.com/, which features easily accessible information about the programming the agency provides, as well as links to resources and information and a schedule of upcoming events.
Front Line has already entered into a memorandum of understanding to serve as a behavioral health partner to the Methuen Police Department’s mission to create a robust first responder co-response program. Front Line is also providing numerous community-based training sessions for community organizations around the region.
Front Line is also in discussions with Lawrence Police about potentially providing clinical support services to the Lawrence Police Department’s new LLEAPS n’ Bounds Program.
Up until this Spring, Front Line worked directly with the Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Tewksbury and Tyngsborough Police Departments to provide direct connections to holistic, trauma-informed behavioral health and substance use disorder resources.
Those departments have now formed their own independent Behavioral Health Unit Police Collaborative to continue providing those services within their communities, while Front Line has amicably evolved into an independent company aiming to assist other police/first responders with clinical services, training and support for deflection and outreach programs on a national scale.
Results:
While working with its original five agencies from 2019 to 2022, Front Line clinicians responded in-person to 960 calls for service involving a mental health or substance-use concern, and member departments referred 5,548 incidents to Front Line clinicians for follow up due to a mental health or substance use concern, according to a report Front Line prepared for the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance.
During that time, specially trained officers from member departments and Front Line co-responders diverted 2,160 individuals from a revolving door cycle of involuntary emergency room visits, instead connecting those individuals with outpatient treatment options and follow up care.
Also from 2019 to 2022, Front Line co-responders and officers from member departments diverted individuals from criminal custody 1,878 times, connecting individuals to mental health and substance-use resources and follow-up care in situations where probable cause for an arrest existed.
Using estimates from Advocates, Inc., another local mental health co-response provider, each emergency room diversion saves approximately $4,000 in healthcare costs, and each criminal custody diversion saves approximately $2,500 in costs to the criminal justice system. Using those estimates, Front Line member police departments saved $8.6 million in costs due to diverted emergency room visits, and over $4.6 million in criminal justice system costs due to diverted arrests.
“While estimates are available for how much criminal custody and emergency room diversions save, it’s impossible to put a price tag on sparing someone from a criminal record, or connecting an individual to recovery and mental health programs that will support them both now and in the future,” said CEO Page-Shelton. “Front Line’s Co-Response program was built on the principle that people thrive when they can remain at home, in the community and receive the care and assistance they need to live healthy lives. These results show that our strategy is as effective as it is compassionate.”
Data collected by Front Line and reported to the Bureau of Justice Assistance also shows that over 91% of individuals who participated in recovery-based treatment with Front Line in 2021 did not commit additional crimes while they were in treatment, and that over 72% of those individuals continued to show no recidivism after completing treatment.
Also over the three-year BJA reporting period, Front Line hosted five Mental Health First Aid trainings and six Crisis Intervention Training sessions, training over 166 officers from 17 communities across Middlesex County.
Moving forward:
In it’s proposed partnership with the Lawrence Police LLEAPS n’ Bounds program, Front Line will provide a bilingual co-response clinician and peer support specialist to provide post-crisis supports through community engagement, outpatient services, and community resource connection. Front Line will also provide the Lawrence Police Department with after-hours tele-clinical support through clinical support line services. This will allow officers to call a clinician and discuss a case any time of night and on weekends.
Front Line will also serve as the official behavioral health partner of Methuen Police, as Methuen Police seek to build a robust first responder co-response program. Currently, Front Line is assisting the grant application process as Front Line and Methuen Police seek federal grants to fund the implementation of the program, a community response team, outpatient center and Crisis Intervention Team.
In both partnerships, Front Line is serving as a behavioral health partner and will be contracted to provide services. In addition to these projects, Front Line is currently booking Mental Health First Aid Trainings for various non-profit organizations across New England. This month Front Line opened its main office and first community-based treatment location in Gardner, MA serving the central MA community providing easily accessible access to trained clinical staff.
“As an independent company, Front Line will place it’s focus on providing consultation, support, and training for communities seeking to build more robust behavioral health integrated response,” said President and CEO Page-Shelton. “We believe our law enforcement and deflection strategies have been proven effective, and we look forward to working with more local departments and agencies to help improve delivery of services and resources to those battling mental illness and substance use disorders.”
