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Meeting Date: September 21, 2026
Subject: A3 (Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime) Program Updates
Submitted For: Dr. Grant Colfax
Department: Health Services
Presenter: Chad Pierce, PsyD, Mental Health Chief of Crisis Services
Referral History:
In November 2020, Contra Costa Health (CCH) brought together a multi-disciplinary team to start the design phase of A3 (Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime). The goal was to figure out the nuts and bolts of the A3 model. The Design Team consisted of people with lived experience, family members, law enforcement, fire and emergency medical responders, behavioral health professionals, improvement advisors, and mobile crisis team members.
The need for A3 advanced based on research showing that behavioral health challenges are widespread and increasingly recognized as a major area of need:
1. About 1 in 5 people in Contra Costa County experience behavioral health challenges;
2. Behavioral health challenges are the third most common call ambulances respond to in the county; and
3. Every year, there are more than 8,000 visits to psychiatric emergency services in the County.
The Design Team prioritized four areas for the A3 model:
1. A need for help - People can reach the A3 Miles Hall Crisis Call Center multiple ways (e.g., direct line to call center, 911, 988, 211, community health providers, etc.);
2. Someone to talk to - Care begins as soon as a call to the call center is answered. Clinical staff provide support, triage presenting concerns and determine when an in-person response is necessary;
3. Someone to respond - A3 staff will determine the type of response that is appropriate for each situation. Mobile teams are dispatched to address the crisis and provide care; and
4. A place to go - People may need a place to go for additional support (e.g. PES, YSU, ED, alternative destination, etc.). Once a team is on site, they may determine whether a person in crisis needs more support.
In the past, when someone experienced a crisis - fire, crime, or medical emergency - the call would be to 911 with the expectation of getting immediate emergency services. However, when that emergency was a behavioral health crisis, there was no timely, culturally and clinically appropriate response.
A3 addresses this enormous need by making behavioral health part of the emergency response system and currently operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A3 includes the Miles Hall Crisis Call Center, mobile crisis teams, a rapid access outpatient clinic and a peer respite center. A3 dispatches on average 23 field teams per day. A3 continues hiring and training team members, improving technology, refining processes, including call triage, and collaborating with partners and other providers on training and responding to crises.
On May 19, 2025, Contra Costa Health Services provided a report to the Committee on its mobile crisis teams and the status of the clinic and peer respite center that were at that time under construction. The Committee asked Health staff to return to the Committee later in the year with additional program data, including housing and other supportive service client needs if available.
On November 17, 2025, the Committee received an update on response levels, the types and volume of calls, and law enforcement partnerships. Health Services staff provided an overview of the A3 Data Dashboard, which serves as a public online resource with real time data on program quality and outcomes, as well as demographics information and call service types. The presentation also included discussion regarding the partnership with ConFire for dispatch services and the developments of the Oak Grove Rd. facility in Concord that will include the call center, rapid access clinic, and respite center.
Referral Update:
Please see the attached presentation.
Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):
RECEIVE the annual report from Contra Costa Health Services on the A3 (Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime) program.
Fiscal Impact (if any):
There is no fiscal impact - this report is informational.