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Can Farmers Help Each Other Navigate Mental Health Crises?

Lela Nargi

February 01, 2022 |

Civil Eats |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Wisconsin

Programs like Farm Well Wisconsin, offer behavioral and wellness services to help farmers experiencing mental health challenges. These programs provide mental health resources as well as training to identify signs of stress and employ active listening tactics. Since 2021, Farm Well Wisconsin has trained about 150 farmers and community members in these mental health skills.

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To Stem Shootings, Poughkeepsie Is Bringing Therapy Directly to City Streets

Ann Givens

January 31, 2022 |

The Trace |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Poughkeepsie, New York

SNUG Street Outreach is a state-funded violence prevention program that brings mental health care out into the community to the places where people spend their time. Trained social workers go out into the street, people’s homes and local businesses where they establish relationships and slowly build up to providing counseling through more casual conversations, even over text messages. A community-based approach allows them to connect with people who are at high-risk of committing gun violence, as well as people who have been victims of gun violence themselves or in their social networks or communities.

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Why Albuquerque's latest experiment in policing doesn't involve officers

Henry Gass

November 12, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque established a new city department, Albuquerque Community Safety, that handles some of the 200,000 calls to 911 every year for a range of low-level, non-violent problems that don't require a police response. Since its launch in August 2021, the department has fielded just two teams of behavioral health specialists on call during the day. The city plans to expand the team's hours and responsibilities, though some are uneasy about exposing the unarmed workers to the potential for violence. The city has a long history of police shootings of mentally ill people, and ACS is meant to curb that threat.

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These Philadelphians Created an App to Prevent Gun Violence

Maytal Eyal

November 04, 2021 |

Wired |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philly Truce is a mobile app that lets people in crisis ask for help from volunteer conflict mediators without involving the police. The app connects people to social services and to volunteers who can help ensure that a personal conflict does not turn violent. Two Philadelphia men with a modest investment launched the app in May 2021. Hundreds already have used it to de-escalate disputes or to volunteer to join the effort to reduce violence. The founders hope to expand the project to other cities.

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Thousands of Alaskans are considering suicide. You can learn to help them choose life.

Anne Hillman

November 03, 2021 |

Alaska Public Media |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Anchorage, Alaska

To address Alaska’s high suicide rates, especially among youth, programs like the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training teaches people how to safely and confidently talk about suicide. The two-day training provides steps people can use to talk with others about suicide, dispel any shame around the topic, and develop a safety plan with them. The main idea is not to solve all of their problems, but to keep the person safe now. The training combines conversations, videos, PowerPoints and roleplaying to teach the steps, based on a global model developed by LivingWorks 35 years ago in Canada.

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Taking Mental Health Crises Out of Police Hands

Jenee Darden

November 01, 2021 |

70 Million |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

Until Oakland joins the list of cities sending counselors and social workers on emergency calls concerning mental health crises, a grassroots program called Mental Health First is diverting a small number of emergencies from police involvement to a community-based response. Hundreds of volunteers, many with their own experiences with mental illness and crises, answer dozens of calls per month in which they de-escalate, counsel, and direct people to needed services – all without the threat that a misunderstood person could be harmed by police untrained in correctly handling such crises.

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Don't Call the Police

Michael Hovde

November 01, 2021 |

What's Next Magazine |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

DontCallThePolice.com went online at the height of the 2020 social justice protests to give people a list of resources when they need help and might otherwise default to calling the police. The site is a directory of services in 80 cities, such as mental health care, substance use treatment, and services for youth and elders. The site averages about 20,000 visits per month as its existence becomes known. Information is crowdsourced.

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Orlando man's 7th arrest in 7 years raises questions about mental competency system

Erik Sandoval

October 29, 2021 |

WKMG-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Orlando, Florida

Orange County, Florida, courts have ordered thousands of mental-competency hearings in recent years to test whether criminal defendants are mentally capable of facing charges. If they are not, they get released, leaving mental illnesses untreated and leading to repeat cycles of arrest and release that sap public resources and threaten public safety. Miami-Dade’s Criminal Mental Health Project offers a more effective model, in which police officers are trained to call in mental health professionals who can get the person into treatment rather than jail.

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She was bleeding from a stab wound. A congressional staffer intervened

Jim Saska

October 28, 2021 |

Roll Call |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

The Violence Intervention Program at Baltimore's Shock Trauma Center counsels victims of violence and links them to needed social services to try to keep them safe from future injury. Such hospital-based trauma care is rooted in the reality that many people are repeat victims of violence, and that mental health care, jobs, and other assistance can help some find greater safety. One advocate for federally funded expansion of such programs saw firsthand how this evidence-based strategy still faces daunting obstacles to its wider adoption.

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Sedgwick County looks to San Antonio for mental health solutions

Mark Wiebe Hunter Funk

October 27, 2021 |

The Kansas Leadership Center Journal (KLC Journal) |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Antonio, Texas

Since the early 2000s, when its overcrowded jail led to a decision to jail fewer people instead of adding more cells, Bexar County, Texas, has provided comprehensive help to people likely to end up jailed if social and health services are lacking: people experiencing homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse. A crisis center gives police and residents a place to bring people needing help other than an emergency room or jail. The Haven for Hope is a campus offering an array of services and shelter. Homelessness and the jail population are both way down.

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