Introducing BRACE: a new community-wide behavioral health resource

Pictured left to right:
Chief Andy Leisenring, Venice Police Department; Erin Minor, Vice President of Community Leadership at Gulf Coast; Kasey Ledford, Venice Police Department Community Outreach Team Case Manager; Victoria Tiggas, Director of Advancement at Centerstone; Jessica Kruger, Manager of School Base, Prevention, and Intervention Programs at Centerstone; Jennifer Johnston, Director of Community Leadership at Gulf Coast; Charles Whitfield, Vice President of Community Care at Centerstone; Alexis Wade, Manager of School Base, Intervention & Prevention Programs at Centerstone; Sergeant Sean Hammett, Venice Police Department Community Outreach Team; and Elizabeth Reyes, Executive Assistant at Centerstone 

“We don't heal in isolation, but in community.”
― S. Kelley Harrell, Gift of the Dreamtime

As national behavioral health continues to be a concern, the need for comprehensive, care-focused treatment remains paramount. Regionally, our area’s crisis response options have been limited due to a lack of significant staffing and resources. To aid in that lift, Gulf Coast Community Foundation (Gulf Coast) has partnered with Centerstone to launch the Behavioral Response and Community Engagement (BRACE) program to enhance local capabilities in this space.  

This initiative is designed to reduce the need for arrests, emergency room visits, and repeated 911 calls received while simultaneously building resilience and positive social drivers of community-wide health.  

Centerstone was awarded a grant from Gulf Coast to launch this pilot program within the Venice Police Department’s Community Outreach Team (Venice PD’s COT). The funding will spur the hiring of two Navigators, trained mental health professionals adept at community-focused work in the mental health space. These individuals will become an integral part of the unit that both fields calls and assesses and de-escalates incidents in the area. They will also be equipped to connect people to services that promote stability and recovery. 

“There’s always a need for preventative intervention,” said Sgt. Sean Hammett of Venice PD’s COT. “There’s a lack of social services in our area. And the 911 center receives all the calls in the community. What better way to bring them together than to create a unit that is more specialized so that we can relate to members of the community to assist with what they need?” 

By focusing on pre-crisis intervention, Navigators will bolster both the capabilities and overall reach of the team. The Navigators will be housed directly within the Venice PD office, where they will have a direct line to both the community and other crisis response officers to provide a faster, more robust reaction to behavioral health situations. 

Implementing these additional resources is primed to have a dual effect on the region. More staff will be available to aid in the increasing number of crisis response calls – some of which can take days to resolve – reducing strain on first responders and improving outcomes for individuals in need. In turn, the region will benefit from fewer behavioral health crises escalating into emergency situations, helping residents access appropriate care faster and easing the broader demand on law enforcement and emergency services. 

“As more resources become available, people realize there is a greater need here for those resources,” shared Kacey Ledford, Case Manager with Venice PD's COT. 

Added Sgt. Hammett: “The more visibility BRACE can get, the more it helps the community-at-large.” 

At Gulf Coast, we proudly invest in programs that expand access to behavioral health resources and strengthen the systems that support community well-being. BRACE represents the kind of innovative collaboration that builds resilience – connecting people to care before crisis strikes and fostering a safer, healthier region for all.