LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A Lincoln program is helping bridge gaps between mental health providers, people who need their help and police officers who often are sent to help with problems.
The R.E.A.L. Program is run by the Mental Health Association of Nebraska. The name stands for respond, empower, advocate and listen, according to the Lincoln Journal Star (https://bit.ly/2hmJv11 ).
Association Director Kasey Moyer said peer counselors who help the people referred by officers have experience living with mental health problems or have been incarcerated. In the program’s first five years, about 300 officers have made 1,600 referrals.
Lincoln Public Safety Director Tom Casady said police officers have always dealt with people who have mental health issues, but the number of those calls has grown. He said population growth is a factor, as are the decline in community-based outpatient care and support for people with chronic mental illnesses.
“More and more, people aren’t getting any kind of care, and more are becoming involved in incidents that involve the police,” Casady said.
In Casady’s view, the city is dealing with mental health crises in the backseats of police cruisers.
“I think (police) are the largest provider of emergency mental health care,” he said. “The second largest is Lincoln Fire and Rescue.”
According to a September study by the University of Nebraska Medical Center, one in five Nebraska residents has reported mental illness in the past year, and 47 percent of them got treatment.
According to the same report, an increase in access to community-based services could help prevent some hospitalization and police calls. Still, Casady said, in the first half of 2016, Lincoln officers were sent to 1,500 mental health calls.
___
Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, https://www.journalstar.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.