Buncombe Sheriff's Office Expands Mental Health Support for First Responders

When Sgt. Christopher Stockton, who supervises the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office major case unit, describes the pressure bearing down on first responders, he doesn't reach for abstraction. "We've been put through stress like we've never experienced before," he said. His colleagues now have somewhere to take that weight.

The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office has built a multi-layered mental-health infrastructure that pairs a Co-Responder Program, funded through FY24 PACT dollars, with on-site individual counseling, peer support teams, chaplain services, and embedded behavioral health clinicians who work alongside deputies and paramedics on crisis calls. The goal, officials say, is not simply to protect deputies. The program is designed to reduce arrests, lower use of force, and improve outcomes for the residents those deputies encounter during emergencies.

The PACT-funded expansion adds behavioral health clinicians to existing crisis response teams, extends operational hours, increases the number of trained responders, and strengthens data collection for program evaluation. Partners include Buncombe County Emergency Services' Community Paramedic program, Behavioral Health Urgent Care, and RHA Outpatient Services.

For Sgt. Bryan Freeborn of the Sheriff's Office Support Operations division, the training has changed how he handles calls. "When you take this program, you have these 'ah-ha' moments," Freeborn said. "Like, 'Oh, if I say these phrases, if I use this technique or if I call this particular service provider, I'm able to move this person from this place of crisis to some type of stabilization.'" That shift from containment to stabilization is what county officials say distinguishes a deputy with mental-health training from one working in isolation.

A mental health professional identified as Baker operates out of an office inside the sheriff's building, providing individual counseling, ride-alongs, and direct response to critical incidents. Stockton said the proximity matters. "It's such a huge comfort knowing that this resource is here," he said.

The deeper obstacle has been cultural. "For many, many generations, the culture of first responders has been resistant to these kind of services," Baker said. That resistance, Baker added, is eroding: "We're starting to see a shift in the culture where it's becoming OK to not be OK, and it's OK to come and ask for help."

Peer support teams now operate across Buncombe County Emergency Services, the Buncombe County 911 Call Center, and the Sheriff's Office, covering paramedics, law enforcement officers, EMTs, and dispatchers. The county describes the program under the heading "I Have Walked This Road Too," noting that peer supporters share the lived experience of running toward emergencies while others run away. All peer interactions are confidential.

Sheriff Quentin Miller has framed the expansion in explicit public-safety terms. "We know that it's a direct correlation between the job that we do and what we're seeing in our colleagues," Miller said. "So, we understand that we have to get help now."

A traumatic incident in Barnardsville, referenced in county program materials as direct context for expanding therapist and chaplain access, illustrates the argument officials are making: unprocessed grief among deputies doesn't stay inside the sheriff's office. It rides along on every call.