AMERICUS — “Stigma against the mentally ill is a form of prejudice.” Speaking to a capacity crowd at the Rees Park Economic Development Center, retired Memphis police Major Sam Cochran described a crisis intervention model to address the needs of citizens with mental health problems and change communities’ perceptions of the mentally ill. The Thursday evening event, hosted by former first lady Rosalynn Carter and sponsored by the Rosalynn Carter Institute and Southern Star Community Services, served to launch a new Georgia model for rural community health services in Americus and surrounding areas.

The “Memphis model” for mental health crisis intervention, developed in part by Cochran, provides trained law enforcement officer response to individuals experiencing a crisis. Cochran noted that nationally, a large percentage of individuals in crisis become statistics of the criminal justice system, often incarcerated in local jails rather than receiving needed psychiatric care. His Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) approach provides officers with needed mental health training, while forging community partnerships with local care providers, consumer advocates, the business community, and the criminal justice system. As one benefit of such an approach, Cochran documented the significant drop in officer injuries that occurred when a trained crisis team approach was used instead of traditional law enforcement intervention methods.

Rick Birkel, Ph.D., executive director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute, reflected on the effectiveness of efforts such as Cochran’s in reducing community stigma and creating a sense of shared ownership for better mental health responses. According to Birkel, “All sectors of our community need to come together in partnership in order for such a program to be truly effective.” In her introduction of the speaker, Rosalynn Carter described her own reaction to hearing Cochran first present the CIT model, saying she felt the need to  see programs like this implemented throughout the state of Georgia.

An attentive audience of community leaders in law enforcement, business, mental health, and government learned more about the model itself, as well as the need for a more coordinated community response to behavioral health crises. Equal parts consciousness-raising and practical how-to information, Cochran’s presentation led to a consensus from the group that additional efforts were needed in local southwest Georgia communities.

Following Cochran’s presentation, Thomas Updike, Ph.D., CEO of Southern Star Community Services, introduced the proposed Georgia model for rural mental health care and invited guests to attend a grassroots training session the following morning. Updike, immediate past president of the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, also presented Rosalynn Carter with an award from that group for her nationwide advocacy efforts on behalf of the mentally ill. Updike noted that one in five individuals will experience a mental health problem in a given year, and stressed the relevance of effective mental health response to the community as a whole.  “CIT is an important part of the whole mosaic of community services,” Updike stated. “An integrated community response is critical.” Outlining a community resource model of mental health interventions, the community behavioral health director described a service continuum that provides the least intensive intervention necessary for an individual in crisis.  Such an approach decreases inpatient hospitalization and incarceration for mental health consumers, while also being a more practical and cost-effective answer to community care. Research shows that many more individuals can be served in community settings than can be provided care in institutional settings.

In Friday’s workshop sessions, Cochran laid out the implementation details for a working CIT program. This model is now being implemented nationwide through the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy and the University of Memphis. Updike and others again stressed that a CIT program is only one piece of a coordinated approach to care. While dollars and cents were addressed, it was clear from the enthusiasm and commitment of presenters that the driving force in developing a community response model is not economics, but compassion. The videotaped face and voice of a young female CIT-trained police officer must have stayed in many observers’ heads. She stoically described her experience as a child raised by a mother with severe and persistent mental health problems, culminating in her mother’s eventual suicide.  Today, defusing potential crises in other families’ homes is her way of giving back to her community. “I always look in corners of the house for a child who might be hiding there,” she said, as she herself did many years ago. Today, the CIT model is looking to help communities one such family at a time.

For the local area, future plans include the development of a community task force to begin implementation of the new model.   For additional information on community crisis response, contact the University of Memphis at cit@memphis. edu. To participate in the community task force or learn more about local efforts, individuals may contact the Rosalynn Carter Institute at 928-1234, or Southern Star Community Services at 931-2470.