Public transit is vital to city life, but safety concerns like substance use, mental health crises, and homelessness can significantly affect the rider experience. In the St. Louis Metro East region, an innovative program developed by  Bi-State Development (BSD) and the St. Clair County Transit District (SCCTD) in partnership with Chestnut Health Systems, is redefining transit security—not through enforcement, but through compassion and connection.

Since 2021 Chestnut Health Systems has embedded behavioral health professionals into the MetroLink system. Working alongside transit security, they provide real-time support to riders in crisis, addressing issues before they escalate and connecting individuals to essential services.

Nathan Zeller, Associate Director of Recovery Support for Chestnut Health Systems, and Dennis Watson, Senior Research Scientist also with Chestnut, join us to discuss this amazing program, its initial barriers, its evolution, its success thus far,  what can be learned from it, and applied elsewhere. 

To view the four-minute video on the program we referenced in the pod go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtxR1dHTO9c  It's well worth your while.