LACo Supervisor Hahn’s initiative aims to improve mental health outreach on Metro

A proposal to improve Metro’s ability to respond to people experiencing mental health crises on the public transit system has been approved by the utility’s directors.

The motion, approved Thursday, instructs Metro to work with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health to provide training for Metro frontline staff, including all of the service’s 300 customer service workers and more than 200 transit security officers, so they are better able to respond to a rider experiencing mental health challenges, according to county Supervisor Janice Hahn, who proposed the initiative.

The motion also will establish priority access for Metro staff to reach the county’s homeless and psychiatric mobile response teams, which can respond directly to a person in need of services, Hahn said.

“We have hundreds of new transit ambassadors and security officers in addition to law enforcement aboard our Metro system,” the supervisor said in a statement. “With new training from the Department of Mental Health and a direct line to our mental health field teams, we can do a better job getting people struggling aboard our system the help they need and ultimately make our Metro system a safer place for all of our riders.”

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