Wildstyle Paschall’s Post

Co-responder pilot programs have emerged as a successful approach to addressing community mental health crises. These programs involve collaboration between law enforcement agencies and mental health professionals, such as social workers or clinicians. Check out the article below to learn how implement a successful co-responder pilot program with the support of Julota! 👇👇👇

Co-responder pilot programs have emerged as a successful approach to addressing community mental health crises. These programs involve collaboration between law enforcement agencies and mental health professionals, such as social workers or clinicians. Check out the article below to learn how implement a successful co-responder pilot program with the support of Julota! 👇👇👇

“Nothing excuses what’s happened here. People want answers. There are no easy solutions.” This was my honest response to an incredibly difficult question of what we need to be doing to prevent tragedies like we have seen this week. Violent attacks involving individuals with known criminal histories and mental illness has understandably caused alarm for many people in British Columbia, I am among them. But it’s crucial to address this issue without perpetuating harmful stigmas around mental health. The reality is that most people with mental illness are not violent, but for those experiencing severe, untreated conditions, the outcomes can be tragic. It is unclear whether anything short of the suspect being in secure care could have prevented this weeks’ tragic events, but from a system perspective, experts have been calling for reform for years - ever since the former Riverview Hospital was closed. In media interviews they always take quotes and portions of comments so I wanted to provide my broader thoughts here: ➡️ Expanded Access to Community-Based and Tertiary Level Mental Health Care: Timely and comprehensive care is essential. We need more accessible mental health services, from early intervention to long-term support. This includes secure care facilities for individuals in crisis who need immediate, intensive treatment. ➡️ Stronger Integration Between Health and Justice Systems: Individuals with both mental health conditions and criminal histories continue to fall through the cracks. Better coordination between health services, law enforcement, and the justice system can ensure people get the help they need before issues escalate and reduce the number of repeat offenders. This needs to start while they are held in custody, but also continue upon release. ➡️ Community-based Support and Housing: Stable housing and consistent community support are vital for reducing the risks of untreated mental illness. Expanding supportive housing programs with integrated social and clinical services can provide the foundation for long-term recovery and reduce the likelihood of future incidents. #MentalHealth #PublicSafety #CommunityCare #Prevention #CriminalJusticeReform

Even though police officers shouldn't be helping people with mental health issues, substance abuse, or suicide because we don't have enough resources to help us, police officers now have to handle these situations; I am glad we have CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) officers, who have gone through 40 HOURS of intense training to help us and are ALL across the country and the world. CIT officers have compassion, empathy, a great listening ear, and a lot of patience to help us on perhaps one of the worst days of our lives. It's not about drawing guns on us or taking us to jail. It is about de-escalation, and getting us the help we need. However, as I always say, "Society is LAZY when it comes to mental health, and preventing suicide." We need to do a better job with early detection, education like QPR Suicide Prevention Training, getting rid of the stigma around mental health, CARING, and better and more resources, we could prevent suicide and help those who are struggling with mental health issues, but thank goodness we have CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) officers! https://lnkd.in/eARXFK74

Co-responder pilot programs have emerged as a successful approach to addressing community mental health crises. These programs involve collaboration between law enforcement agencies and mental health professionals, such as social workers or clinicians. Check out the article below to learn how implement a successful co-responder pilot program with the support of Julota! 👇👇👇

“Right Care, Right Person must be paused on a national level The government must not allow any more lives to be put at risk by allowing Right Care, Right Person to continue until we can be sure that the £260million needed to make it work has been allocated to health services to allow them to properly develop and establish the resources. Effective Right Care, Right Person responses also require social care input, which means even more funding. There must be rigorous and transparent oversight and monitoring arrangements established. The local Right Care, Right Person plans developed between police forces and Integrated Commissioning Boards must be signed off by a Health Minister and Home Office minister before police forces are able to step back from responding to 999 calls about a person in acute mental distress. Transparent monitoring of the implementation of Right Care, Right Person plans must happen both locally and nationally. There must be a clear plan for measuring success and escalating concerns to help establish accountability around the process. The monitoring should be multi-agency and include voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations. It must not be done behind closed doors.”

This is what many of us feared and knew could be a reality. Already the system fails people with mental health problems over and over and these kinds of policies just continue that cycle. Hopefully system leaders will be looking to reignite this debate to protect people at their most vulnerable and work together with all involved agencies (who are all struggling right now) to address this real concern.

A tragic story that highlights why trained crisis responders are essential to our battle against mental health emergencies. Another great option is investing in programs that can pair mental health professionals with emergency responders and ensure that each responder is amply prepared for dealing with mental and behavioral health crises. While specific goals to train police officers are admirable and can greatly help in the short-term to make strong crisis response practices as effective as possible, we must continue to invest in providing specific crisis response services outside of law enforcement. #CrisisResponse #MentalHealth #BehavioralHealth #CrisisIntervention

I really hope the CAST project goes well. However, I do have serious reservations. Expecting wonders from #mentalhealth services, which whether we realise it or not are part of the fabric of social control, especially #psychiatry, seems unduly optimistic & trusting, given the power dynamic that exists. Many psychiatrists are trauma-blind & adhere to the dominant biomedical model that locates the problem in the person & their faulty brain (e.g. a "chemical imbalance"), rather than investigating the root causes of their distress & seeking to help the person heal relationally by soothing the nervous system dysregulation. Medications do not make undigested trauma caused by disorganised attachment, child sexual abuse, or being marinated in the stress of a household ravaged by domestic violence & coercive control go away. Nor do they address the embodied harms of white supremacy and racism, or violence directed at the person because they are LGBT. Meds dull the symptoms of distress. As Bessel van der Kolk says meds can, however, says bring someone who is way "out there" back to reality. But why do so may people need to flee the reality of their lives!!??? "Why the pain?", as Mate would ask. Also, I'm baffled by the term "situational trauma" in this paragraph: "The pilot project aims to provide a better experience for the individual in crisis or situational trauma and their families, delivering support and intervention at the right time, right place and with the appropriate service." It came from the Report of the High Level Task Force, but truly us a curious concept. The term is an obscure, uncommon one & should have been clearly defined to help ordinary people, Gardai & clinicians understand it. There are many definitions of trauma out there, but none that I'm familiar with refer to the "situational". If it means events or experiences that overwhelm the person's capacity to cope & leave lingering scars, the SAMSHA definition would have been worth using. In any event, unless all the staff of CAST receive comprehensive trauma training, the initiative may, I fear, retraumatise & further harm wounded people who commit crimes or otherwise come in contact with the pilot. I sincerely hope I am wrong & my fears are unfounded. Here's a link to my recent "Relationships Matter" with Lisa Morrison. Although the focus is not on diverting distressed people who come into contact with the criminal justice system, the content is hugely relevant regarding safety, trauma, psychiatry and its capacity to harm, power dynamics, healing through connection and how we all have a role to play in the wellbeing of others. See https://lnkd.in/e4Hmhrj8

The government has published its response to the Joint Committee on the draft Mental Health Bill. The following recommendations were rejected by government: * The creation of a statutory mental health commissioner * A new ‘responsible person’ for each health body to address bias and discrimination * The abolition of CTOs * Extending the tightened detention criteria to Part 3 patients * A new mechanism to extend section 2 detention for some people with learning disability and autism * Amending DoLS so that it cannot be used as an alternative route to the MHA * Amending the duty to implement CETR recommendations * A statutory test for “competency, or ‘child capacity’” for children * A pilot scheme for patients to appeal treatment decisions at the mental health tribunal * A Central Advocacy Service * A statutory right to request “culturally appropriate advocacy” * Replacing section 118 (on statutory principles) The Government, however, agreed the following: * To review the wording of the new detention criteria on “how soon” detention may occur * To consider if a 12-month review of CETRs was too long * To consider if the new “risk register” should be renamed “Dynamic Support Register” * To place a duty on on services to carry out activity in relation to Advance Care Documents * The need for greater clarity about holding powers in A&E departments