Over 10 years ago, the Kentucky Crisis Intervention Team training program for law enforcement was first brought to Bowling Green. Back then, Melanie Watts was a captain with the Bowling Green Police Department and instrumental in getting that program up and running. Since police officers like to feel confident and prepared to handle any situation at any time, it would stand to reason they’d want to be armed with the training tools needed – like verbal de-escalation, active listening and non-lethal weapons use – when encountering people with mental health issues.

Fast forward 10 years and Melanie Watts, now the Director of Community Engagement for LifeSkills, says Crisis Intervention Training is still a highly successful training program with a proven positive impact on law enforcement officers. In addition to the original CIT training, CIT II is now being offered, which is even more in depth and deals with officer self-care, as well. “Along with an increased understanding of people with mental illness, the use of force has decreased,” said Watts. “However, with one in four to five Americans experiencing mental health issues, the number of incoming calls has increased. Dealing with people in crisis takes a lot of time. So, we’ve been looking for ways to better utilize mental health professionals to help free up the officers so they can get back out on the streets.”

This quest led to visits to two highly successful programs. Watts and Warren County Sheriff Brett Hightower went to Utah last year to learn more about Salt Lake City’s crisis intervention teams, where social workers ride along with officers to effectively respond to situations involving people experiencing a mental health crisis.

“They started out with six grant-funded social workers,” said Watts, “and the program was so successful the city soon realized what a difference it was making and provided the funding for 18 more social workers.”

Their second and most recent visit was to Nashville, to check out the “Partners in Care” program that pairs a metro police officer with a mental health counselor to go out to the scene together to assess and de-escalate specific situations. That program has been in place since June of 2021 in Nashville’s North and Hermitage precincts and Partners in Care teams have responded to over 1,000 mental health-related events. Of those, only 10 resulted in an arrest and the rest were pointed toward available mental health services.

“I’m excited to announce that after all of our research and observations, LifeSkills now has its very first co-response therapist,” Watts said. “She went out on her first ride-along yesterday. We’ve seen how well this officer/therapist partnership can work, and we’ve witnessed how extremely helpful it can be to the community and to law enforcement officers. We certainly hope to grow this program in time.”

Watts believes co-response therapists will make countless positive contributions, including:

• Decreased time spent on mental health calls
• Increased availability and access to mental health services for those in need
• Increased public education about mental health
• Mental health referrals as needed, wherever needed
• Follow ups to ensure actions are taken
• Community outreach and education

Co-response therapists are contracted through LifeSkills but will work hand in hand with the sheriff’s department.

If you are interested in becoming a co-response therapist and you have a masters degree in social work, mental health counseling, marriage and family, or psychology and a pursuit of a licensure or certification under a professional board, visit www.lifeskills.com. You may fill out an online application, or contact Donna Jewell 270-901-5000 Ext. 1196; or Adam Canada 270-901-5000 Ext. 1176 for more information.

– Maureen Mahaney coordinates public information for LifeSkills Inc., a nonprofit, behavioral health care corporation that plans for and serves the people of southcentral Kentucky in three main areas: mental health, addiction and developmental disabilities. Her column appears monthly.