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The City of Hayward is working to improve response to people experiencing mental illness, substance use disorder and homelessness by ensuring we are dispatching the right teams and following up to connect individuals with support services.
We strive to accomplish this through the Hayward Evaluation and Response Teams, HEART, for short, an evolving program which provides an integrated alternative to traditional emergency response by deploying two specialized teams trained to handle both crisis and non-crisis situations.
One team, called Hayward Mobile Evaluation, or HMET, has been operating since 2021 and includes an Alameda County behavioral health clinician and a specially trained Hayward police officer. HMET responds to acute mental health crisis reports and calls for welfare checks where safety is a concern.
The other team, called Case Management and Mental Health Linkages, or LINK, has been operating since 2022 and includes two mobile mental health clinicians, a service coordinator and one clinical supervisor. LINK provides street outreach, follow-up care, and systems navigation and coordination to connect and reconnect individuals to appropriate services and reduce the need for future intervention.
If a person is a potential danger to themselves or others or if they need medical attention, Hayward community members can contact and activate HEART by calling 911, and the appropriate team will be dispatched.
If a person appears to need mental health or other social services but is not in immediate danger or in need of medical attention, community members are encouraged to call the LINK team at (510) 293-7048. The phone line is monitored 24/7 by trained counselors.
For more information about the HEART program, go online to the City of Hayward website at hayward-ca.gov/HEART.
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