Grant will help fund crisis intervention training

Mental illnesses are biological diseases, like diabetes. Serious mental illnesses affect 1 in 17 people, making them more common than diabetes. Current medical research indicates that these illnesses are caused by a "perfect storm" of genes which is then unmasked by an environmental triggering event. With treatment, most people with mental illness can lead productive, fulfilling lives. Yet, mental illnesses have been stigmatized and criminalized.

Law enforcement by default is frequently the first responder to a mental illness crisis. The three largest de-facto psychiatric institutions in the United States are the Rikers Island Jail, the Cook County Jail and the Los Angeles County Jail. Most people with severe mental illness in county jails are charged with misdemeanors, often the direct result of symptoms of their untreated illness.

Here in Bonner County, there are some significant problems in the mental health care system. There is no full time practicing psychiatrist, no in-patient mental health beds, no mental health professional staffed crisis response team, no assertive community treatment teams, and no mental health court. There is a real lack of supportive housing for people with mental illness, both transitionally as they leave a psychiatric unit or corrections facility, and long term.

NAMI Far North, the Bonner and Boundary counties’ affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is working to implement crisis intervention training for law enforcement in the northern five counties and has received a $52,000 grant to do so. CIT is a pre-booking jail diversion program designed to improve the outcomes of police interactions with people with mental illness. The Memphis model, the gold standard, includes both a 40-hour training program for members of law enforcement and a community collaboration between law enforcement, mental health providers, and people with mental illness and their families. This model has been shown to decrease injury to law enforcement, decrease the number of SWAT team calls, decrease the amount of time spent by law enforcement on mental disturbance calls and decrease recidivism. By creating relationships between law enforcement and mental health professionals, CIT can facilitate agreements that get people quickly transferred to mental health treatment. Successful CIT programs include planning to improve access to inpatient and community based mental health and substance abuse services. The Region 1 CIT Coalition now has 75 members.

NAMI Far North and the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force are co-sponsoring a lecture, reading and book signing by Pete Earley on October 30 at the Panida. Pete, a former Washington Post reporter, is the author of Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, nominated for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize.  The Sandpoint Library is co-sponsoring a community read of this book, with panel discussions on October 9 and October 22. Mental Illness Awareness Week, October 5-11, is an appropriate time to begin to work as a community to educate ourselves and find local solutions to the current mental health crisis. Treatment, not jail, is the appropriate response to a neurobiological illness.

Ann Ferguson Wimberley, M.D., (retired), is president of NAMI Far North. The group can be contacted at P.O. Box 2415, Sandpoint, ID 83864.