Almost 46,000 people died by suicide in the United States in 2020, while millions more seriously thought about suicide, made a plan or attempted to take their own life, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. September is National Suicide Prevention Month. Deputies with the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Officers often interact with citizens experiencing a mental health crisis, some who are despondent and actively trying to hurt themselves. While police have basic mental health training, the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office now has additional resources to assist those in crisis. In September 2019, the St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Office hired Alexis Higdon, Community Mental Health Liaison. Before joining the agency, she worked at the Center for Children, a private non-profit organization in Southern Maryland as a psychiatric rehabilitation program supervisor and therapist. Higdon herself grew up in a First Responder family. “I have always been very passionate about First Responders and mental health, and Law Enforcement is a very underserved population” in obtaining mental health services, she said. The Sheriff’s Office recently expanded the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), utilizing the Mental Health Liaison. When an officer responds to a call for a person having a mental health crisis, […]
The post St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office Crisis Intervention Team Responds to Mental Health Calls appeared first on Southern Maryland News Net.
Source: https://smnewsnet.comNew feed
Be First to Comment