Mental Health Co-Responder Clinician - Substance Use Disorder

The City of Lakewood is dedicated to upholding City values to include: Performance Excellence, Leadership, Respect and Collaboration. Best fit candidates will demonstrate innovation, customer service, dedication, passion and engagement. All people, citizens and employees, will be treated with respect, relevance, and importance.

HIRING RANGE: $41.61 - $46.23/hour

This role is grant funded through August 2027 with the potential for reapplication. Start date is contingent upon the availability of grant contract funds, projected to be available in early November. Additionally, the hiring process requires a thorough background check and this must be complete before the candidate is hired.

Co-Responders are part of the Lakewood Co-Response Team, which operates within the Community Engagement Section (CES). Under the supervision of the Co-Responder Manager, the Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Co-Responder works in partnership with law enforcement to support community members during behavioral health calls, with a focus on individuals experiencing substance use challenges. This role helps connect people to appropriate services and resources while promoting safety, respect, and healing. For Lakewood residents experiencing a behavioral health crisis, SUD co-responders will provide primary on-scene de-escalation of the crisis and aid in linking the individuals and their support nets to community resources and treatment facilities through short-term case management services after the crisis is resolved. Through proactive and preventative efforts by the co-responders, residents will have access to alternative supports to utilize for future behavioral health-related situations, including those involving opiate use disorders along with other substances. In turn, this would allow police Agents to respond to emergent criminal-related calls and reduce the amount of time spent on behavioral health-related calls, allowing the subject matter experts to be involved in the individual’s care.  Objectives of the program are to divert people with mental health needs from a criminal justice system response to a mental health-based response, thus increasing mental, emotional, and physical safety of the individual in crisis, and providing stabilization within the community or through other care options for individuals suffering from behavioral health conditions and addiction, reduce over-utilization of emergency services for behavioral health-related calls, particularly those involving SUD.   

The SUD co-responder’s main duties are to act as first responders to active behavioral health calls for service involving substance use to provide clinical de-escalation and crisis intervention to individuals experiencing behavioral health emergencies. Co-Responders provide immediate assessment of individuals experiencing behavioral health crises and work to divert them from the criminal justice system and emergency departments by recommending appropriate level of care to responding Agents. Co-Responders may respond to low priority level calls without law enforcement, using a structured safety matrix and consulting with their supervisor to guide decision-making and ensure safety. 

Co-responders are responsible for resource navigation and preparing legal documentation for the transfer of individuals to appropriate levels of care such as mental health holds (M1), court-ordered mental health evaluations and court-ordered emergency commitments. 

This position will be a four 10-hour FTE schedule.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Incumbent is accountable for all duties of this job and other projects and responsibilities may be added at the City’s discretion. Employees must be able to perform the essential duties of this job with or without reasonable accommodation.

• Respond to behavioral health calls with opiate/substance use component alongside Lakewood Police Department Agents and provide clinical crisis intervention services, assessment, evaluations, problem identification, and referrals to appropriate levels of care. 
• Daily routine requires the ability to get personal administrative tasks done autonomously, work closely with the team and supervisor, with frequent interruptions during periods of high activity and high stress under demanding conditions. 
• Demonstrate knowledge of modern principles, evidence-informed practices and procedures with respect to behavioral crisis situations in a law enforcement setting. 
• Demonstrate an ability to work collaboratively within a police department and alongside community-based professional staff. 
• Responsible for keeping and vetting a network of resources and referral sources to meet the needs of the client population. 
• Ability to multi-task and effectively prioritize situations as they come up appropriately. 
• Assist and