TFD HOPE Team Program (Holistic Outreach Promoting Engagement)

In 2023, the City of Tacoma Fire Department established a team intended to respond to behavioral health crisis and effectively engage with people impacted by mental health, substance use, and co-occurring disorders.

HOPE stands for Holistic Outreach Promoting Engagement. Our program will support community members during behavioral health crisis scenarios, as well as the first responders, courts, jails, community providers, and hospitals supporting those same community members.

Holistic Outreach Promoting Engagement (HOPE)

The HOPE program is part of the City of Tacoma’s broader alternative response initiative.

Mission: To be Tacoma’s response to behavioral health crisis.
Vision: Provide holistic, person-centered, recovery-oriented care to the community.
Values: Instill HOPE, to first responders, the person experiencing a behavioral health crisis, their support system, and provide a collaborative and understanding approach to resources in the community.

Currently, the community cannot specifically request HOPE services; however, when in service, the HOPE field teams respond with traditional first responders (Fire/EMS/Law Enforcement) via tandem or secondary dispatch through the 911 system to behavioral health emergency calls. HOPE utilizes various modalities when supporting a person experiencing a behavioral health crisis. One is motivational interviewing and a solution-focused approach to determine the person’s goal or desired outcome and how much buy-in they have concerning their goal/desired outcome. Motivational interviewing is a solution-focused approach that is frequently utilized during community-based outreach and behavioral health crisis response.

As this program will also staff medical personnel, people receiving services can also engage in short-term medication management, medication-assisted treatment, aka MAT services, and basic medical and wound care education.

The HOPE program provides crisis intervention, de-escalation, risk assessment, safety planning, mental health evaluation, connection to and coordination of ongoing stabilization services and resources, and case management.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a behavioral health emergency, such as being a danger to yourself or others, or grave disability, or another type of emergency, please contact 911.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a behavioral health crisis and needs support or telephonic behavioral health crisis intervention, please contact the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or the Pierce County Regional Crisis Line at 1-800-576-7764 or text 741-741.