OC Links Behavioral Health Services Line

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

The OC Links 24/7 program is a single access phone and chat line for all behavioral health services offered through the OC Health Care Agency’s (HCA) Mental Health and Recovery Services Division. OC Links operates 24 hours a day with Clinical Navigators assisting anyone from professionals to members of the general public with linkage to available services. Individuals who contact OC Links often reach out for a wide variety of needs ranging from outpatient referrals to immediate dispatch for a mental health crisis. The OC Links program, originally established in October 2013, was redesigned in December 2020 to expand access and assistance to all Orange County residents in need of behavioral health services. The HCA recognized the first line of defense in preventing tragedies of public and patient safety, violations of civil rights, extraordinary and unacceptable loss of lives, and waste of resources, is a system built around best practice models that includes a single entrance point to navigate services with a no-wrong-door policy for all elements of the service delivery system. Since initial implementation of the redesign plan in January 2021, OC Links has handled over 13,816 cases, of which 3,556 resulted in immediate crisis team dispatches.