Nine officers from the sheriff’s offices of Pike and Adams counties and the Summit Police Department received crisis intervention training to help individuals with mental health issues.
The officers participated in a class that Pine Belt Mental Healthcare Resources put together through an initiative with the Southwest Mississippi Mental Health Complex at the Pike County Courthouse Friday afternoon.
“They learn basic techniques for interacting de-escalation,” said April Overman, regional crisis intervention training coordinator for the Pine Belt area and retired captain with the New Orleans Police Department.
“They also get fairly intense training on recognizing different indicators of mental illness so that they can structure their response to the particular ailment they’re dealing with.
“The whole key is helping to partner law enforcement with the mental health community so that we have alternatives to bringing people to jail and we can get them long-term help.”
Sherlene Vince, executive director of Southwest Mississippi Mental Health Center, had positive things to say about the program.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for mental health along with law enforcement coming together to be able to serve our communities,” she said.
Overman specifically said the CIT officers learned how to deal with individuals who believe they are hearing voices and have schizophrenia as it is difficult for them to focus on instructions.
“The most important thing is to establish a personal rapport, treat them with respect,” she said.
When the officer interacts with someone with schizophrenia, Overman said he or she should start the conversation by saying “my name is.”
“Find out their name so you can address them by name and it makes them human,” she said.
Overman said the public is able to call police departments asking for a CIT officer.
“Basically, when they get a call about somebody who is exhibiting behaviors consistent with a mental health problem, they will ask for a CIT officer to come out there and that CIT officer will facilitate getting the individual into a treatment facility or triage facility,” she said.
Although CIT officers are helping others with mental health issues, Overman said those type of responsibilities can also be stressful to them,
“The typical response people will have will be, ‘I’m just going to walk away and who do they call?’ ” she said. “They call the police, which means the police have to deal with it from start to finish.”
