An Alternative Approach To Dealing With Mental Illness
More than 200 million calls are made to 911 in the US every year.
It's been a problem that's been going on for so long that now the criminal justice system has morphed into the mental health system and have been referred to as the new asylum because of the vast number of individuals who need help who have gotten caught up in it. And the system isn't equipped for that responsibility.
Some researchers have suggested that perhaps 25 percent of all inmates have some serious mental illness.
They end-up escalating the situation to the point of someone being tasered or shot.
Things have gotten so bad between the police and the mental health community that now a great number of police departments offer crisis intervention training. Some have even considered alternative approaches to dealing with those 911 calls altogether, rather than having police sent as the first responders to those types of situations.
In Stockholm, Sweden, authorities there are trying a different approach.
The service launched back in 2015 and it's already proven to be a success.
The team includes mental health nurses and one paramedic, with a mission to provide quality care to DE-escalate any situation they're called to, trying to calm the person down. And many of those calls allegedly relate to a risk of suicide.
Here in the US, they're also trying out different solutions, one of them being a mobile app that's known as Concrn.
The app is an alternative to 911, for non-emergency situations, that can help people during mental health crises. The app connects those who need help with compassionate first responders and they've been active helping those in the San Francisco area.
Those on the response team are required to go through some training beforehand, about 20 hours of it, and they come from a variety of different backgrounds including emergency medical training, social work, and more. They help to connect those who need it with helpful services that might be able to assist them to get information about what they need, whether that be shelter, a job, someone to talk to etc.
Since many officers aren't trained or ready to deal with people who are suffering with a mental illness, it's time that we thought of other solutions to this problem. Because continuing to send the police as the default responders, when they aren't properly trained or capable or remaining calm, is only going to continue putting people in danger. And carting people off to jail and trying to ignore the problem by locking them up isn't helping to solve it either. Hopefully, more emergency responders will start to move in a new direction.
The mental health crisis shouldn't be placed entirely on the shoulders of police officers around the nation and elsewhere to solve.
Pics:
Pixabay
Pixabay
pixabay
Sources:
https://www.nena.org/?page=911Statistics
https://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11134908/criminal-justice-mental-health
https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/xwvkda/why-the-mentally-ill-keep-getting-shot-by-cops
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fatal-police-shootings-in-2015-approaching-400-nationwide/2015/05/30/d322256a-058e-11e5-a428-c984eb077d4e_story.html
http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/evidence-and-research/learn-more-about/3695
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-zoukis/mental-illness-is-rampant_b_14188302.html
http://time.com/4144276/mentally-ill-police-killings-study/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/half-people-killed-police-suffer-mental-disability-report-n538371
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/05/30/how-victoria-police-has-dealt-with-mental-health-and-suicide_a_21386238/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/06/health/police-mental-health-training/index.html
http://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/gov-mental-health-crisis-training-police.html
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/worlds-first-mental-health-ambulance-helping-hundreds-people-sweden/
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/5gqemz/stockholm-mental-health-ambulance-263
https://www.ems1.com/international/articles/371683048-Sweden-premieres-worlds-first-mental-health-ambulance/
https://apolitical.co/solution_article/worlds-first-mental-health-ambulance-arrives-sweden/
https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/29/concrn-is-a-911-alternative-that-helps-people-during-mental-health-crises/
I agree with you it shouldn't be on the officers shoulders plus they need to be there for true crime
Thank you. As a "mentally ill" person who is FINE most of the time, but my "fight or flight" reaction got destroyed by SSRIs... I go to GREAT lengths to avoid talking to cops. The one time it got bad enough that my husband called for help because I was having an anxiety attack... so they KNEW it was someone with a mental illness issue, they showed up and surrounded me and put their hands on their guns. I thought I was about to be shot. That helped my anxiety a lot...
It has been years ago now, I try to laugh it off, but typing this has me crying again. I fully expect to die by getting shot by a cop when I an having a crappy day already. Thank you for speaking up, thank you for showing there IS a better way.
Thank-you for resteeming this. I am so sorry you're having to go through this trauma. And, that it continues to affect you. My tummy aches for you in reading this. I pray our communities become much more compassionate towards one another. There is certainly a better way. Lots of love and gentle healing blessings your way. ❤
Thank you, honey! It is MUCH better for me now, but I have gotten better. The cops have gotten worse...
You're welcome! Goodness that event must have been scary for both you and your husband. I'm glad you've been able to heal from it mostly, but it seems there must be some bits keeping you in trauma. But, yiu can heal fully ❤❤❤ It's crazy how the public allows the police state to be so violent. But, i strongly believe things are changing. So many people are awakening to the corruption (all levels) and are realizing we are all similar people wgen pushed into crisis we will support one another spirit to spirit. ❤
thanks for your comment :) and for checking out the post!
In the UK mental health treatment has been cut t the bone and in many cases it's just about handing out pills and leaving those lucky enough to have family carers to cope. The problem is the carers end up with their own mental health problems as the stress and strain of caring for someone with a long term mental health illness is draining.
More needs to be done across the board as the problem is getting worse, greater understanding and critical funding to help people before they fall into a crisis situation is needed.
This is a much better approach to these distress calls. Mental illness is evidence of the lack of skills to adapt responsively to the demands of the environment. By responding to mental health with people trained to de-escalate, everyone involved can calm down and work it out.
The police are trained to respond to active or ongoing threats, and for their own reasons, have a hard time responding to challenging behavior without punishing the "offender". Until they get that training, the problem will persist.
Glad to see that somebody is willing to try something different.
Wow ! I think Swedens idea of having a "Mental Health Ambulance " PAM is awesome for all countries , as well as the mobile app for non emergencies , that should be implemented everywhere . and im sure in time , these things will be , They sure are needed where I live ! Great post @doitvoluntarily ! Steem On !upped and resteemed😀👍👍👍✌💕
Mental health is such a multi-faceted issue. I'm not sure if apps or anything like that will solve any problems. You're asking First Responders, who already go through training ad-nauseam, to go through more training. In the academy, police officers ARE trained to deal with mentally unstable people. I grew up in a law enforcement home, have a family of cops, know lots more as friends, worked for a SHORT period as a deputy in MI. I agree 100% that law enforcement policies need to be overhauled; carting people with mental health issues to jail isn't the solution, but the quality of police candidates seems to only be getting lower. But still, it's not an easy job. The problem is trying to differentiate someone who is having a mental breakdown from someone who is hopped up on Meth, and that's not always easy.
Have you ever had to deal with a combative person? Who has no idea where they are or who they are? Who thinks you're trying to kill them instead of help them? I have, and I promise you, it's no fun.
The real issue is that the mental health system is over-burdened. Me personally, I turned to psychedelics, because the VA's own mental health system is so inundated with Veterans. I'm writing about my experience with Psilocybin and how transformative they are. (If interested, check out my page). It's helped ease most symptoms of my PTSD (family/combat related). Plenty of studies have shown their effectiveness when used in a safe, guided environment. One dose of Psilocybin with such a session leap-frogs years of therapy. You're digging to the root of the problem, where most applications today are only putting a band-aid on it. Anyway, thanks for this write-up, great read!
Advanced technology as you mentioned use of Apps will definitely help to solve this problem a bit.
it'll be interesting to see how:)!
Excellent post @doitvoluntarily! Thanks for sharing
thanks @egonz ! thanks for checking it out
Interesting post thanks, it is unfortunate that the U.S. has such a widespread problem with mental illness, I believe it is due in large part to adding the neurotoxin fluoride to the water and mandatory vaccines that also alter the brains chemistry
many other countries as well, hopefully more help can get to them rather than harm👍
thanks for sharing the news.