Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Behavioral Health Liaison Danielle Pierce (left) listens as she is introduced to the commissioners on Tuesday, July 1 by Sweetser Clinical Supervisor Tonya Thurlow and Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett. Pierce, who is trained in social work and crisis response, will respond with law enforcement to scenes at which residents are in need of counseling, substance use prevention services, and other mental health support. (Molly Rains photo)
Jefferson resident Danielle Pierce is stepping into a role the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Lincoln County Board of Commissioners have said is urgently needed countywide.
As a behavioral health liaison for the LCSO, Pierce will respond alongside law enforcement officers to situations in which residents are in need of mental health help and support, whether that entails deescalating a personal crisis or helping someone access substance use prevention resources, said Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett.
“We’re fortunate. Danielle comes to us with a great deal of experience and certainly the training and education to really make an impact, so we’re excited about it,” Brackett said.
Pierce, who is training in crisis response skills, will be able to assess people on scene for signs of a mental health crisis. She will then take steps to help them recover when admission to an emergency room or arrest is not necessary but skilled help is still needed, said Brackett.
“Our goal is to keep people in the community,” said Tonya Thurlow, a clinical supervisor with Sweetser, the mental health nonprofit that will oversee the behavioral health liaison role for Lincoln County.
“The intention of the role is to help triage, essentially, people in the community that are struggling or seeking out police response to reduce folks going to the jail or going to the emergency room,” Thurlow said.
Sweetser was one of four companies that submitted a bid to oversee the newly created behavioral health liaison role in late 2024. After consulting with Brackett, the Lincoln County Commissioners unanimously approved Sweetser’s bid on Dec. 17, 2024.
Since then, LCSO and Sweetser have been working to staff the position. Pierce officially started on Tuesday, July 1. The commissioners wished her luck during their meeting that morning.
“I hope you are very successful,” Commissioner William Blodgett said to Pierce on July 1. “We have need of these sorts of services.”
Similar initiatives have been successful at reducing arrests and emergency room visits in other Maine towns where behavioral health liaisons have been employed, Brackett said.
“We’re really excited at the sheriff’s office to bring this to fruition,” he said. “We’re looking forward to getting Danielle’s boots on the ground.”
Pierce said she was looking forward to tracking the effectiveness of her work and planned to bring data about her calls and their impact on the community at a future commissioners’ meeting.
The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners will next meet at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 15 at the courthouse in Wiscasset. Meetings are also streamed online on Lincoln County Television’s YouTube channel.
For more information, go to lincolncountymaine.me/county-commissioners or call 882-6311.
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