Hahn Pushes to Strengthen Incentives for Mental Health Field Team Recruitment

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Feb. 4 approved a motion by Supervisor Janice Hahn which aims to preserve and expand the hiring incentives that have helped the county to more than double the number of mental health field teams responding directly to people in mental health crises.

LA County has set out to expand its alternative crisis response system where mental health professionals can be reached through 9-8-8 or the county Help Line and sent to anyone experiencing a mental health crisis, de-escalate the situation, and connect a person in crisis with immediate treatment and long-term care.

Historically, these mental health field team positions have been difficult to fill. In 2023, the board approved a proposal by Supervisor Hahn to incentivize hiring including increased pay for field positions, signing bonuses, retention bonuses, and loan forgiveness. The incentives worked and the county was able to more than double the number of mental health field teams from 33 to 71 teams. At the same time, the county was also able to cut the average response time from six hours to two hours.

Now, one-time-funding for the hiring incentives is set to run out this year. If the incentives expire, the County Department of Mental Health will have a difficult time filling the 40 new field team positions currently vacant and further cutting response times.

“We are building up a system in LA County so that when someone has a serious mental health crisis, anyone can pick up the phone, dial 9-8-8 and expect help at their door,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “These incentives have already helped us hire a record number of mental health professionals, but we have more work to do and we should keep them in place until our response times are down to 30 minutes or less.”

Today’s motion directs the Department of Mental Health to report back in 60 days with funding options to continue and build on existing hiring incentives after the current funding runs out this June. 

Details: Read full motion here.