ON P.O.I.N.T.
Proactive Outreach in Needs and Treatment
At Bright Harbor Healthcare, we believe in building strong, healthy, safe communities. As such, we provide law enforcement support to aid in reducing the impact of poverty, social problems, and inequity in all communities. Law enforcement support has become the de facto response to any type of crisis. We recognized an opportunity to partner together to achieve our mutual goal of community wellness and safety, thus creating the On POINT Program in 2016 with the Stafford Township Police Department.
Our approach and partnership have been carefully designed to let each profession excel and operate within its areas of strength and expertise. On POINT embeds social workers in the police departments to collaborate effectively with officers and address the community’s needs. On POINT provides an easy access point for officers to refer those in need without the burden of knowing all available programs, services, and the modality to access them. Part of the referral process is indicating any concerns for safety or the need for a joint outreach with the social worker and officer. Most frequently, On POINT social workers reach out to and engage those referred without the presence or involvement of an officer. Through this approach, officers simply become the bridge to mental health, addiction, and social need services instead of the resolution.
Since the inception of On POINT, we have opened the doors of communication between the two professions and discovered ways in which we can complement and assist each other to the benefit of the communities we serve.
The On POINT team provides an assessment of needs, brief case management, referral, and linkage to services along with follow-up. The goal of this law enforcement support program is to ensure community residents are able to easily access available resources that will lead to long-term stability and quality of life. Participation in On POINT is completely voluntary.
Department News – Lacey Township Police – Partnership with Bright Harbor Healthcare On P.O.I.N.T. Program – Sept 25, 2020
The Lacey Township Police Department is happy to announce that on September 25, 2020, we partnered with the Bright Harbor Healthcare On P.O.I.N.T (Proactive Outreach In Needs and Treatment) program to better serve the mental health and social service needs of our community.
This program, which initially began in the Stafford Township Police Department in 2016, embeds social workers in selected Ocean County police departments (Lacey, Stafford, Little Egg Harbor, South Toms River, Ocean Township, Manchester, Lakehurst, Barnegat and Brick), to collaborate with police officers to effectively address community needs. Those community needs include substance abuse, mental health concerns, senior assistance, juvenile assistance, and much more.
The On P.O.I.N.T. program is now working alongside of our Police Officers right here in Lacey Township. Every Thursday Lacey Township Police Department has a Bright Harbor Healthcare social worker assigned to our police department to provide these services. For more information on the On P.O.I.N.T. program please visit the below link.
https://brightharbor.org/law-enforcement-support-veterans-court-diversion/