Abington Police “Bridge” Program – Cops Connecting Community Members to Behavioral Health Services

The Abington Township Police Department has partnered with Access Services’ Montgomery County Mobile Crisis to form the Bridge Program.  The Bridge Program is designed to increase connection to mental health services for Abington area residents through a quick referral mechanism.  A Mobile Crisis liaison is partnering with Abington Police to support outreach, referral, and co-response in the community.  According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness [NAMI], in the United States, one in five adults experience mental illness each year and we lose someone to suicide every 10 minutes.  Abington Police hopes that the Bridge Program will add more life sustaining support to the community and will provide additional education to officers through partnership.  Access Services is pleased to support the Abington Police in their efforts to make help more accessible for Abington area residents.  “It’s a difficult job,” according to Jess Fenchel, Vice President of Behavioral Health at Access Services, “police are often the first and only responders to see the hardest parts of our communities, and for many scenarios, not equipped to deliver care.”  Chief Patrick Molloy, of Abington PD agrees, “we’ve seen positive outcomes in our partnerships with social services though the HUB model, and we hope to see even more impact from the Bridge Program.”  Abington Police remain committed to creative solutions and new programming to better serve the community, including those who live with mental illness and disability.  For more information regarding the Bridge Program, please contact Officer Alison Delaney at 267-536-1080 or email at adelaney@abingtonpa.gov.

Click to watch the Video regarding the “Bridge” Program

Approved for Release by:
Deputy Chief Kelley Warner
kwarner@abingtonpa.gov
267-536-1067