NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — In 2021, Metro Nashville Police Department and Mental Health Cooperative launched the Partners in Care Program to better serve people who are experiencing a behavioral health crisis.
Two years later, the Partners in Care program added its sixth police precinct in Madison to the fold, and program manager Michael Randolph says he is excited.
“I think we are doing a lot of really good work and we are helping a lot of people,” Randolph said.
What is Partners in Care doing?
In this program, a Metro Officer and a masters-level clinician from Mental Health Cooperative are put together whenever an officer is out on a call that could involve interacting with someone in a mental health crisis. Partners in Care defines a mental health crisis as someone experiencing suicidal thoughts.
However, every call looks different, Randolph says.
“Sometimes it’s ‘hey I need a ride to my doctor’s appointment’ or ‘hey I need a ride to a shelter,’ and we can resolve a crisis that way,” he said.
Psychiatric facilities are a last resort, Randolph says, as is arrest. The goal of the program is to keep people out of the criminal justice system and in the healthcare system. The safety of the person in crisis is the top priority, as well as getting them access to the care they need.
What does training look like?
Officer Hendrik Kruger was a part of the first training program for Partners in Care.
"We had to kind of play pretend," he said.
The first thing they did was pick an envelope and a mental illness diagnosis. The assignment was to take home the medication, (in this case, pieces of candy), and take it at the designated time every day.
"For me, doing that was a little hard, I found myself forgetting to take it," Kruger said.
He says he now has a better understanding of how easy it is to forget, and what it's like for a person to have to take medicine every day, sometimes even three or four different kinds.
Before officially working mental health calls, each officer works with a co-response Partners In Care supervisor who trains them on policies and procedures. Clinicians do16 hours of training within the police force, along with the weeks of training they do as clinicians. Officers complete 40 hours of crisis intervention team (CIT) training to prepare to walk alongside clinicians.
“And really learn the local resources, too, because our partnerships with other community health organizations — with other advocacy groups — is really key in connecting an individual in crisis in the moment to the help they need at the time,” Randolph said.
The training connects officers with other methods outside of arrest and psychiatric hospitals to help people who are experiencing a mental health crisis. This includes safety plans with the family, connecting with an outpatient for them to stay at the home, going to a crisis stabilization unit with temporary health services or being connected to a treatment facility if they really want treatment, according to Randolph.
What does a crisis call look like?
Kruger says he tries to find something to connect with the person on initially, like cars or something they enjoy.
"Not all mental health patients are comfortable with police officers," he said. "That's where the counselors come in."
On a call assignment involving mental health, the officer is always the one in charge of safety, Randolph said. They assess the situation and whether or not the scene is stable, then once it is a safe situation, the mental health expert can interact and do what needs to happen health-wise to intervene and get the proper care to the individuals involved.
“It’s very dangerous to be in a mental health crisis and have police involved,” Randolph said. “That’s why we train those officers and first responders the best we can in those situations, while we get clinicians as close as we can to help those people, and then we have a city-wide apparatus to study those situations and hopefully reduce them.”
Partners in Care releases all their data online in order to be transparent, according to Randolph.
He said since the start of the program, they have a 3.8% arrest rate and no clinicians have been injured, both statistics on par with their goals: to keep individuals experiencing a mental health crisis away from prison and in the presence of the healthcare and safety they need.
"Whether someone has mental health issues or not, it is important to respect them," Officer Kruger said. "They have a mother, they have a father — they're not any different because they have a mental illness."
