Police officers are likely to be among the first to come into contact with persons who are experiencing severe mental health problems – like psychosis.
CIT training better enables officers to identify and safely work with people in psychiatric crisis. A new resource is available in many communities throughout the US that is designed to work with people who are experiencing their first episode of psychosis
(FEP). A list of these programs is available
at SAMHSA’s early serious mental illness program locator. We encourage you to search
for the program in your area and connect with them for more details on how officers in your CIT program can refer individuals who may be experiencing a FEP.
The programs use a team-based approach that seeks to rapidly engage and serve individuals to keep them on their life path and avoid the development of disability. The model is based upon research
sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health that showed that the sooner people receive this type of service the better are their outcomes.
For these services to work well, it is important that all individuals who are likely to have contact with someone experiencing a first or early episode of psychosis know how to refer them to specialty
care as soon as possible. On June 18th at 2:00 pm (EST), the GAINS center is sponsoring a webinar that will show how members of the criminal justice system can support the recovery
of people experiencing FEP by effectively linking them to evidence-based treatment and services. It will describe the signs and symptoms of early psychosis and the use of the sequential intercept model to identify points of contact, such as with police, that
present opportunities to direct people to specialty care.
Presenters will include David Shern, PhD, Senior Public Healthhttps://www.nasmhpd.org/
Advisor, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD); Leah Pope, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Vera Institute of Justice; and Jessica Pollard, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical Director of the Specialized Treatment
Early in Psychosis (STEP) Clinic, Yale School of Medicine. Register today!
https://praincevents.webex.com/praincevents/onstage/g.php?MTID=e5ba9452fbf4b1f93e6715700edd4c352
Also, an issue brief that addresses these issues is also available from the NASMHPD at
https://www.nasmhpd.org/sites/default/files/DH-First-Episode-Psychosis-Considerations-Criminal-Justice-rev3_1.pdf.
See you in Seattle ....
