Henrico to create intervention teams for mental crises

By Bill Mckelway RTD

Across most of Virginia , the first person called to deal with someone in the throes of a mental crisis is a police officer trained to make an arrest.

The result can be devastating, even when the officer follows procedures. Frightened, mentally ill patients have killed themselves. Some have killed police or loved ones. Others have resisted arrest, only to be thrown in jail or left for hours in emergency rooms awaiting psychiatric evaluations.

Some unruly mental patients have inflicted serious harm on emergency-room physicians and staff.

A new program based in Henrico County is aimed at avoiding those calamities and providing care to people who often are more ill than criminally minded.

This week, the county will unveil key players in the creation of a program using Crisis Intervention Teams, or CIT. They are a rarity in Virginia , where localities simply can't afford to redirect manpower to nontraditional areas of care and law enforcement. Charlottesville , Hampton , Virginia Beach and Montgomery County have -- or are in the process of establishing -- CIT teams.

In Richmond , the Community Criminal Justice Board said last year that it wanted to adopt the CIT approach, and officials plan to begin training officers later this year.

At the same time, the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority's board is considering setting up a 16-bed "crisis stabilization unit" -- a clinic where people in crisis can stay for short periods. That would be a place where officers could take people in distress without having to arrest them and take them to jail.

Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m., those interested in helping the Henrico program are invited to attend an inaugural public meeting at the Weinstein JCC, 5403 Monument Ave.

Assisted with startup funds from central Virginia 's National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Henrico CIT program will entail months of training of multidisciplinary teams made up of mental-health professionals, police officers, rescue-squad members and jail personnel.

"The focus of the CIT program is providing better care for the mentally ill citizen and their families," said Henrico Lt. C.A. Wood. But she stressed that the effort will dig deep into the community for help: from hospitals, universities and advocacy groups.

National Alliance on Mental Illness members have had to confront the consequences of such a team's absence. Kathy Harkey, co-president of the central Virginia chapter and a Hanover County resident, has been a leading advocate for broader use of the CIT program.

Her 24-year-old son, Joshua, fatally shot himself in January 2006.

"Joshua finally met Virginia 's criteria for receiving medical care -- but it was too late. All hope was lost," she wrote recently.

Now she is devoting her life to bringing changes to the system. Helping establish the CIT program is a priority.

Although there are a handful of CIT programs in Virginia , the effort began in Memphis , Tenn. , 20 years ago and has been duplicated nationwide.

Memphis recognized the toll of seriously mentally ill people on the community.

"These individuals are more likely to experience homelessness, suicide, incarceration, victimization and violence," Memphis ' CIT Web site notes. The site adds that the prior police response to people in crisis increased injuries, kept ill people from getting help, delayed hospital care and often resulted in needless jail stays.

Wood seconded efforts to avoid those consequences.

"The current process takes too long and does not benefit the consumer, the community or the responder. The goal is to get appropriate treatment resources more quickly for the mentally ill person."