A SAMHSA sponsored webinar presented by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, took place Wednesday, June 10, 2020 at 2:00pm Eastern Time called “Improving Access to Care by Partnering with and Minimizing Law Enforcement in Mental Health Crisis.”
Description: People with mental illness—just like people with any medical condition—need a range of treatment, services and supports, depending on an individual’s unique needs. Unfortunately, our current mental health system was never built to meet the needs of the nearly 45 million Americans who have a mental illness. Without an effective mental health system, communities have relied on the criminal justice system to provide mental health care and as a result, every year over 2 million people with mental illness are booked into America’s jails and prisons.
Law enforcement, in partnership with mental health professionals and advocates, have worked for decades to divert people with mental illness from the criminal justice system. While many of these efforts have improved access to care and improved responses to people experiencing a mental health crisis, many front-line personnel continue to ask: “divert to what?”
In this webinar, two models of crisis care were examined that promote community-based support with a focus on minimizing law enforcement in crisis through proper partnership including the Rapid Integrated Group Healthcare Team (RIGHT) and the Retreat Model of Crisis Urgent Care. The RIGHT Care program includes specially trained and equipped police officers, paramedics, and mental health professionals who respond as a team to safely and effectively manage patients who are experiencing behavioral health emergencies. The Retreat Model of Crisis Urgent Care emphasizes a physical layout that is an open retreat and staff with lived experience who provide 24/7 outpatient lobby with immediate care, 23-hour temporary observation recliners, sub-acute crisis stabilization with 2 – 4 day average length of stay.
1. Ahrnsbrak, R., Bose, J., Hedden, S.L., Lipari, R.N., Park-Lee, E. (September, 2017). “Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health,” Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Retrieved from: https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FFR1-2016/NSDUH-FF...
2. Steadman, H.J., Osher, F.C., Clark Robbins, P., Case, B., Samuels, S. (2009). “Prevalence of Serious Mental Illness Among Jail Inmates”, Psychiatric Services, June 2009, https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1176/ps.2009.60.6.761
Presenters
•Shannon Scully – Senior Manager for Criminal Justice Policy at NAMI
•Paul Galdys – Deputy CEO for RI International
•Kevin Oden – Director, Office of Homeless Solutions (Dallas)
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Kelle Masten via email at kelle.masten@nasmhpd.org.
Thank you!
**We do not offer CEU credits however letters of attendance are offered upon request.
***Closed-captioning is available for this webinar.