By Christopher Kuhagen
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MILWAUKEE — The statistics about mental illness tell the devastating story: One in 17 Americans lives with a serious mental illness, and one in four adults - 57.7 million Americans - experience a mental health disorder in a given year.
Four of the 10 leading causes of disability in the U.S. and other developed countries are mental disorders.
Helping people with mental disorders can be challenging.
Mental illness can alter a family dynamic; it can change how people interact, and it can be confusing to understand.
Often, individuals affected by mental illness go unmonitored.
But even if they are treated, problems can arise, and police are sometimes called to intercede.
Not all police officers are properly trained to deal with such situations. And not knowing how to handle a mentally ill person can have major consequences for all involved.
“What surprises me is most officers who have been around 10, 15, 20 years have very little training (in working with mentally ill people),” said Mary Madden, who has worked in the mental health field for 25 years and is the executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Waukesha County.
Madden, NAMI and others in the police force around the county are looking to change that. This starts with Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training for law enforcement.
Training comes to Waukesha A “suburban departments” training session that was started at the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department has now shifted to NAMI Waukesha, whose members have been trained and who have begun hostingtraining programs for officers in Waukesha County.
Menomonee Falls Police Chief Anna Ruzinski was instrumental in bringing CIT training to Waukesha County.
“I’ve been passionate about this for some time,” Ruzinski said. “We needed to change the system and look for ways to handle mental illness.” Waukesha NAMI ran its first two CIT classes, which are held at the Waukesha County Mental Health Center, in 2011, and Madden said there are three more scheduled for 2012.
The program, coordinated by Waukesha County Sheriff’s deputy Kim Unger and Madden, is funded with federal grants. The 40-hour, weeklong class helps law enforcement officers and other first responders recognize and understand the signs of various mental illnesses.
Building a bridge
Objectives include learning how to “de-escalate” the situation, becoming acquainted with resources in the community and learning how interacting in outreach programs reduces the potential for crisis. “It’s very intense for everybody,” Madden said. “But it’s really designed to be a bridge between mental health and law enforcement and to find a better way to work with people so they don’t end up in jail for petty crimes, or so it doesn’t get escalated inadvertently.” Serving the mentally ill In addition to Ruzinski’s department, officers in the Mukwonago, North Prairie, Village of Eagle, Oconomowoc, New Berlin, Brookfield and Waukesha police departments have followed suit in getting trained. Overall, 1, 000 officers from 55 agencies statewide are now trained.
“That’s excellent and it’s only going to increase,” said Oconomowoc Police Department Sgt. Brad Timm, who became CIT certified last September.
The class included information on suicide prevention as well as how mental health problems affect adolescents, the elderly and veterans of war.
The class also took a tour of outreach organizations in the City of Waukesha that provide services to those suffering from mental illness. “I have been a police officer for almost 10 years and did not realize that some of these programs existed,” said Sgt. Chad Pergande of the Waukesha Police Department.
“The fact that they took us to the various locations has made a real impact on how I perceive these organizations’ ability to provide services.” Walking in their shoes Students in Pergande and Timm’s class also wore tape recorders that simulated what an individual might hear if he or she was schizophrenic and hearing voices. “The point of the instruction was to see how devastating this disorder can be for those suffering from it and how it can affect everything from mood to the ability to recall information,” Pergande said. “It was an eyeopening experience to walk in the steps of someone with schizophrenia, but as they reminded us, we were fortunate enough to be able to turn it off when it got uncomfortable.” In another exercise, officers worked through situations with actors who presented signs and symptoms of mental illness.
While both officers said they will make an arrest if warranted, the CIT training has helped them learn better techniques when handling a mentally ill individual and to seek options other than jail.
Confident in a crisis In fact, CIT officers are 25 percent more likely to transport an individual to a psychiatric treatment facility than other officers.
So far, the reactions from individuals who have worked with a CIT officer have been well-received.
“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback, and we hear from the families who deal with a CIT officer and say they can’t believe how wonderful the officer is in dealing with the situation,” Madden said. “The officers also feel much more confident in dealing with a crisis.” While this is a first step, not every police officer is getting trained, partly because some local departments don’t want to pull officers away from their jobs for a week.
NAMI reports that by 2020, major depressive illness will be the leading cause of disability in the world for women and children. Also complicating the issue are the deep cuts in public funding, which could leave more people with mental illness untreated.
Waukesha County’s nonprofit NAMI started in 1982 with the goal of helping those affected by mental illness, and their families.
“We hope to share the hope of recovery for individuals and families affected by mental illness and hope to help the families,” Madden said. “We’re here for them to know that they’re not alone.” NAMI has accomplished a lot in 30 years, but according to Madden, its No. 1 accomplishment is forming that bond with local police departments to offer CIT training.
“I honestly think the CIT training is the most important thing we’re doing at our organization,” she said.
“I honestly think the CIT training is the most important thing we’re doing at our organization.” Mary Madden Executive Director for NAMI Waukesha
Copyright 2012 Journal Sentinel Inc.