Post on 28-Nov-2014
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transcript
Families & Consumers:Contributions to Teaching CIT
Suzanne M. Andriukaitis, M.A., LCSW
Families & Consumers
• Why?
• What?
• When?
• Who?
Why?
• First person accounts– Real, genuine, honest– Underscore the didactic information
presented by clinicians about signs and symptoms
• Putting a face on mental illness
• Recovery potential
What?
• Examples of incidents when officers assisted person in accessing treatment.
• Examples of incidents where officers could have assisted person in accessing treatment. I wish that…
• Families’ accounts of how they felt about their interactions with officers around their family member who needed assistance.
When?
• Timing of family and consumer presentations in the training is important.
• After the basic overview of signs and symptoms of mental illness.
• Prior to the role play scenarios.
Who?
Always interview presenters in advance.• Families and Consumers must be
screened in advance for what their stories will reveal.
• Don’t assume that just because a person feels passionate about the need to educate law enforcement officers that their story will be educational for officers.
• Officers do not need to be bawled out.
What officers say about Family & Consumer Panels
• Family & Consumer Panels put a whole new slant on what we are truly dealing with.
• The family perspective panel was great. The personal story from each person hit home and I’m sure that I’ll think & react with more understanding the next time I encounter similar incidents.
What officers say about Family & Consumer Panels
• The Family & Consumer Panels gave me a better understanding of how mental illness can affect anyone and made me understand a little bit better how this illness affects everyone not just the person with mental illness.
• Family presentation has totally changed the way I will respond to consumers in need.
What officers say about Family & Consumer Panels
• Having a police officer tell his personal family story brings home the point of this training.
What officers say about Family & Consumer Panels
• Consumer presenters have made me realize that I need to exercise more patience and greater sensitivity when dealing with consumers.
• Hearing from consumers who are managing their mental illness was encouraging in that it demonstrates that there is hope.
• The consumer panel was 1000% more important than all topics today.
• Consumer Panel – Amazing!
What officers say about Family & Consumer Panels
• Consumer panel – very, very excellent. They really put a face with the story and NO ONE slept in class. It made me realize these subjects (people) are someone we can relate to. Someone’s grandparents, sister, brother, co-worker, etc.
What officers say about Family & Consumer Panels
• J.W.D. (Job Well Done). Awesome presentations.
What Family Members & Consumers say about their participation in educating officers.
• As a Latina, I know there is a lot of denial in the Latino community. It is important to raise awareness.
• It was important to me to share my story with the officers so they could hear about the embarrassment and shame that I felt when I needed to call for police assistance.
• I was fearful that my son would be hurt by the officers.
• I was afraid that he would hate me for having him hospitalized.
What Family Members & Consumers say about their participation in educating officers.
• Surprised by how interested the officers were in my story.
• They asked really good questions.
• I do this because I want people to be treated fairly. I want the officers to understand that these folks are not just acting out – they are ill.
What Family Members & Consumers say about their participation in educating officers.
• Telling my story has been an opportunity for me to go over my history, to review the hows and whys, and to come to new understandings about my experiences.
• Telling my story has helped me to realize that the past does not dictate the future.
• I am proud of having overcome my fears of Public Speaking.
What Family Members & Consumers say about their participation in educating officers.
• As a mom with a grown son, speaking to the officers gives me hope. It takes a village…and having officers who are aware of the manifestations of mental illness has made all the difference for my son.
• It is a nice, safe place to talk about my experiences with my son’s illness.
A final word…
• “Mentally ill people are sent to jail more often than hospital”
• USA TODAY 5/12/2010
– 3 times more likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized.
– Report just released by the Treatment Advocacy Center and the National Sheriff’s Association based on previously unpublished 2004-2005 data from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Bureau of Justice.