Mental health crisis assistance for police expanding to other Southland agencies

Sep. 3—A program where Orland Park police are able to respond with the help of a trained counselor to calls involving someone experiencing a mental health crisis is being expanded to give other police departments more direct contact with experts.

In concert with Trinity Services, Orland Park police launched a crisis response unit a little less than a year ago, with the aim of avoiding incarcerating people not necessarily involved in criminal activity but who need help.

The program has "been a phenomenal success so far," said police Chief Joe Mitchell, and Trinity's assistance has been available to five other police departments — Midlothian, Orland Hills, Palos Heights, Palos Park and Tinley Park.

Based in New Lenox, Trinity is a nonprofit that assists adolescents and adults with developmental disabilities and mental illness.

Trinity counselors are available by phone and in some instances in person to assist in field calls to those other departments. In the coming weeks, as part of a federal grant, officers in those departments will be given tablets where they can connect with Trinity personnel on the scene.

"Since COVID, a lot of people have turned to telemedicine, and this is instantaneous connection with a health professional," said Palos Park police Chief Joe Miller.

Orland Park police and Trinity began working together in early 2017, with Trinity counselors assisting police when they encounter someone in need of mental health services.

They are out with officers and can start building a rapport with the person in crisis, Mitchell said.

"They try to attempt to resolve the issue at the scene," he said.

In September 2019, the village received a grant of $744,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice grant to fund the expanded effort and provide crisis assistance training to other departments.

Orland Park's expansion to have counselors assist officers on calls started last October. Counselors are available daily from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m., and for that period in between are available through a tablet or phone.

Bonnie Hassan, the director of outpatient services for Trinity who oversees the Orland Park response program, said the effort has helped avoid hospitalizations of people with mental health issues.

She said that conflicts between parents and their children, as well people with more long-term chronic mental health issues, represent the majority of calls involving Trinity counselors. After the initial police response, Trinity will follow up with the person or their family, Hassan said.

"The point is, how to do we get people to the treatment that they need and that in the future they know of alternative ways to get help," she said.

More often than not, hospitalization can mean an hourslong wait in a hospital emergency room, and by the time someone is seen the crisis may have passed, Hassan said.

Mitchell said having the in-field consultation has decreased hospitalizations for those people officers come in contact with, and has reduced downtime for police. He said that an officer involved in a hospitalization might be tied up for three or four hours.

"We are able to have officers back on the street in a short amount of time working on responding to criminal activity," he said.

Mitchell said officers are not experts in mental health issues, and working with Trinity's counselors has given them that additional help.

"For families, they don't know who to contact in a crisis except for the police," he said. "We don't want to incarcerate somebody with a mental health issue."

Sheriff begins program

Similar to the Orland Park program, the Cook County sheriff's office said that police in Oak Lawn are now connecting with trained clinicians via tablets and phones, to de-escalate interactions with people in need of mental health services.

Oak Lawn is the first suburban department to participate in the sheriff's Co-Responder Virtual Assistance Program, intended to provide not only assistance at the scene of a call but follow up afterward, according to the sheriff.

Launched by the sheriff late last year, the program is staffed by licensed mental health professionals and, similar to the Orland Park program, aimed at avoiding jail for those suffering from a mental health emergency.

The sheriff has called the Cook County Jail on Chicago's Southwest Side one of the nation's largest mental health institutions.

The virtual assistance program provides near instantaneous response to mental health professionals around the clock for sheriff's police and now Oak Lawn officers, according to Dart's office.

Oak Lawn police Chief Daniel Vittorio said the collaboration will "provide our officers another option when responding to calls where there is a mental health issue."

Dart's office said that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, calls for mental health service have steadily increased.

In 2018, sheriff's police responded to more than 1,200 calls for service involving mental health, and this year the number is expected to exceed 1,800.

Orland Park's 'Living Room'

In 2015, the Orland Park department created a certified 12-person crisis intervention team to de-escalate situations where people are in a mental health crisis.

It was also among the first departments in the nation to sign on with the International Association of Chiefs of Police One Mind Campaign. That has law enforcement agencies commit to partner with community mental health organizations to develop and implement policies addressing response to people with mental health issues, as well as provide mental health first aid training to officers.

Mitchell said the department will get a therapy dog later this month that could also be used in instances where police are called to address a mental health issue.

Earlier this year, Trinity opened a Living Room in Orland Park, meant to divert people who are in crisis from having to go to a hospital emergency room.

"More and more, people who are struggling with mental health issues, there are not a lot of places where you can just walk in," Hassan said.

Operated through the Illinois Department of Human Services, the Living Room program is designed to divert people in crisis and to provide a "safe, inviting, homelike atmosphere where individuals can calmly process the crisis event" and talk with specialists, according to the department.

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Trinity's Living Room is at 14315 S. 108th Ave. There is also one in Hazel Crest, operated by The Link & Option Center, and in Matteson, operated by the Sertoma Center.

Trinity's is a nonclinical place where people can walk in and talk with counselors, Hassan said.

The Orland Park Living Room is open from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., but there are plans to expand operating hours, Hassan said.

Hassan who has been with Trinity since 1999, said she is seeing more partnerships around the country between law enforcement and mental health professionals.

"The more often we are working together to help the person, it helps the person, it helps the community," she said. "Ultimately the goal is the same — we want people to be safe and their goals met."

mnolan@tribpub.com

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