March 29, 2024

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Cranston’s crisis intervention team aligns police officers with behavioral health clinicians

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CRANSTON – Earlier this year, an 8-year-old schoolboy behaved in a way that landed him at Hasbro Children’s Hospital for a behavioral health evaluation.

The child, like scores of other people in Cranston, needed some help with his mental health. It was serious. The case was known to Cranston police.

Also, this was the type of situation where, in the past, many people and families haven’t been able to get such needed help. As a result, in those cases, police officers became quite familiar with the consequences of those unaddressed mental-health issues.

But this time was different.

MaryKate MacHardy, right, a crisis clinician at Gateway Healthcare, stands next to Joanne McGunagle and Katelyn Bianco, both of the Comprehensive Community Action Program on Wednesday at a news conference at Cranston police headquarters. Both MacHardy and Bianco are clinicians who work with Cranston's new crisis intervention team.

MaryKate MacHardy, right, a crisis clinician at Gateway Healthcare, stands next to Joanne McGunagle and Katelyn Bianco, both of the Comprehensive Community Action Program on Wednesday at a news conference at Cranston police headquarters. Both MacHardy and Bianco are clinicians who work with Cranston’s new crisis intervention team.

The case was being tracked by a new crisis intervention team formed by the Cranston Police Department.

And that team, staffed with specially trained police officers, was allied with mental-health clinicians from both the Comprehensive Community Action Program and Gateway Healthcare.

CCAP clinicians can help navigate the system

The boy’s mother got a visit from an officer on the team, attired in a more casual uniform, and a CCAP clinician, Katelyn Bianco.

“The mom was very new at navigating the whole system and she was overwhelmed at what was going on,” Bianco recalled Wednesday.

During the initial visit, Bianco left her card. Two weeks later the woman called.

Bianco learned that the son wasn’t connecting with the therapist recommended by the hospital. Bianco helped the mother find more effective therapy for her son and she has already noticed the difference.

“She has already seen a change in her son in the time this has been happening.”

This was among 30 outreaches that Bianco says she has been involved with since the program began in early February.

Overall, Cranston’s police officers on the team have been involved with in-person outreach to more than 60 people and filed more than 100 reports that help the department keep track of mental-health crises, said Cranston police Capt. Justin Dutra.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” Dutra said.

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Officer alliance provides safety for clinicians

The police side of the response connects civilian clinicians with brewing crisis situations and the presence of an officer enhances safety for clinicians during outreach, particularly in cases involving adults with potentially dangerous behavioral issues.

In 2001, Anthony Tavares killed a social worker who went to his Cranston apartment to give him medication.

Bianco and other clinicians nodded enthusiastically when the subject of their safety came up at a news conference regarding the new program at Cranston police headquarters.

The program director at Gateway Healthcare, Elizabeth James, said her organization already sees fewer cases leading to more extreme scenarios resulting in arrests.

The latest crisis interventions in Cranston have definitely decreased use of emergency rooms, James said.

Joanne McGunagle, the chief executive officer of Comprehensive Community Action Program and Gateway H, said that her organization sees individuals from the program accessing services that provide food, health care, behavioral health therapy and a wide array of other assistance.

“That’s a sign of success for us,” McGunagle said.

All of Cranston’s officers have received the first level of training on mental health, known as “Mental Health First Aid,” required by law, said Cranston’s police chief, Col. Michael J. Winquist.

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Training on de-escalation techniques during a mental-health crisis

That training helps officers recognize symptoms of mental illness and identify people who might be experiencing a mental-health crisis.

As part of the new program, eight officers have already received 40 hours of additional training.

That training further honed their techniques for de-escalation during a mental-health crisis.

They also learned more about strategies for addressing mental health in the community.

The officers employ their skills during their shifts. Then, they collaborate with the clinicians on follow-up visits that take place off the shift. They earn overtime for that work.

A $38,000 federal grant provided through the Cares Act in 2020 pays the tab for three four-hour shifts per week.

Another eight Cranston officers are expected to join the team by the end of April.

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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Cranston RI police mental health program pairs officers and clinicians

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