'A different approach' to mental health crises

For a very long time, law enforcement has centered their approach around "command and control." But when dealing with someone experiencing a mental health crisis, they have found other approaches are needed. "Command and control" emphasizes the need for the officer to take control of the situation in order to keep people safe, and officers might see someone not following their instructions as resisting them. But if that person is actually in a mental health crisis, "really, that's not what's going on," said Findlay police Officer Brian White. White described it as a paradigm shift, and said awareness has grown. When White was in the police academy in 2001, he received no training on mental health at all. Today he is a coordinator and instructor who teaches the Crisis Intervention Team approach to his fellow officers. The training started out as voluntary for Findlay police officers, but now nearly every officer is trained. (White said younger officers are often more familiar with the concepts starting out, because today, there is indeed a section in the police academy devoted to mental health.) White said they discuss how to recognize signs that someone is having a crisis. He said officers report feeling more comfortable handling these situations after the class, which includes role-playing exercises. "Really, what this boils down to is communication," he said. An officer is trained to use the name of the person having a crisis, and essentially "get them grounded." White said the majority of calls result in the person voluntarily agreeing to go either to the police department, where they can meet with a mental health counselor, or to Blanchard Valley Hospital for assessment. Occasionally, if police deem the person an immediate danger to themselves or others, they take them into custody for their own safety. But White said this too is focused on getting the person assessed for help they might need — not on punishment. White said that his sense is that there have been more mental health-related calls recently. A large percentage of the population already lives with mental illness, he said, and the COVID-19 pandemic has created a lot of additional stresses. Capt. Ryan Kidwell, who oversees CIT training for the Hancock County Sheriff's Office, said enforcement deputies, corrections officers and dispatchers are CIT trained. The approach started out focusing on the enforcement component. But Kidwell, as operations manager at the Hancock County Justice Center, said jail staff also encounter mental health concerns routinely. He said corrections officers, too, receive limited mental health training in the academy. After becoming familiar with CIT, he approached the state about changing this. During training, staff learn how to recognize the signs of something like depression or psychosis, and how to engage with someone in crisis, Kidwell said. Kidwell said when the topic first came up, "there was a lot of skepticism" among deputies. As law enforcement, they are trained that "we are in control of these situations." But what they're realizing is that with mental health crises, the person experiencing the crisis has to "be a part of that." "It's taught us a different approach," he said. As for the skepticism, when those who hadn't yet been through training watched colleagues who had gone through it early on, Kidwell heard them remark, "I want to know what that person knew," as they were seeing results. Both White and Kidwell said this work also involves being familiar with other agencies in the community and who to refer people to. "We quickly realized that we're outside of our expertise," White said. So people who work as mental health professionals, and people who themselves live with mental health conditions, also serve on the CIT committee. White, who said he has family members who have experienced mental health challenges, has also served on the board of National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Hancock County for the past few years, which he said has taught him a lot. He said the community has come together more in recent years to support mental health, and "there's a lot of resources available." Officers also deal with suicide. White said sometimes they'll get a call from someone concerned a loved one has made some comments, but, when they investigate, the situation turns out not to be an emergency. In other cases, police are responding to a suicide attempt in progress. White said the officer's first responsibility is to make sure everyone is safe, which includes recognizing if there are any weapons. White said police have to enforce laws, and drug use is against the law. But at the same time, there's a growing recognition that there can be a connection between mental health and substance abuse, he said. "We do see that sometimes," he said. He said they try to assess what is going on — whether the way the person is acting might be related to their mental health or to drugs they have used. And being in touch with other community agencies means police may be able to help refer people struggling with substance abuse to treatment, he said. Both White and Kidwell encouraged the public not to hesitate to call for help. Kidwell recommended specifically asking for a CIT officer. Nationwide more and more police departments are recognizing the importance of CIT, White said. They're recognizing "it is incumbent on officers to take this kind of training," he said. Kidwell said the way he sees it is that law enforcement serves its community — that includes everyone in that community, including those who are struggling. "We are servants of the community, and this is a component of service," he said. Arthurs: 419-427-8494