Sioux County sheriff talks mental health | Sioux Center News

SIOUX CENTER—Members of the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office described during the monthly Sioux Center Chamber of Commerce luncheon the challenge officers in addressing rising mental health issues in the county.

Sheriff Jamie Van Voorst along with school resource officer Jessica Dorhout and lieutenants Caleb Haverdink and Justin DeBruin attended the July 12 meeting at the Sioux Center Public Library and talked about their agency’s efforts to better address mental health problems in Sioux County.

“Through the years, mental health has been something law enforcement has been called to deal with and fix,” Van Voorst said.

Improved training and a greater effort by local, county and state governments to provide mental health resources will be crucial to better provide for people experiencing mental health problems.

Comparing things from when he began in 1993 to today is difficult because how things were reported back then was different. From his findings though, he figures they used to go on 10-12 mental health related calls in a year back then. Now, it’s in the hundreds.

“It’s getting to be something that’s a part of law enforcement. So, how do we respond to it? How do we do better?” Van Voorst said.

Van Voorst found support from the Sioux County Board of Supervisors to build up its own resources by allowing for the hire of a second school resource officer and to start a mental health unit with a specially trained mental health deputy and therapy dog.

“We saw the need for our school resource officer, Waylon Pollema, who was getting bogged down with requests. That’s a good problem. We had to tell schools we just couldn’t provide what they need ideally. It came down to let’s get another person in the schools,” Van Voorst said.

He asked that people thank county supervisors for their support of mental health resources in the county and to encourage state legislators to make it a higher priority as well.

Youth mental health

Dorhout is serving as the second school resource officer. In addition to security services, school resource officers are increasingly focusing on acting as a resource for youths facing mental health issues.

“We’re seeing mental health become an issue at younger ages. It can start very young. They’re already seeing it in ages 6 and up. When I talk about mental health, I’m talking about the anxiety we’re seeing in kids, and that can come across as behavioral issues as well. Anxiety, depression, you’re seeing that in younger ages now, too,” Dorhout said.

Drugs are often a complicating factor for mental health, according to Caleb Haverdink. The lieutenant with the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office has seen firsthand how drug problems and mental health problems play off each other.

Eric Sandbulte
esandbulte@nwestiowa.com

The COVID-19 pandemic left a lasting impact on children’s mental health, meaning much more attention and resources will need to be focused on addressing youth mental health needs.

Beyond the pandemic, Dorhout said mental health problems in children can come from a variety of sources, such as diet, changing family structures, social media or a traumatic situation.

“Waylon and I will be splitting up the schools this fall and trying to help schools in whatever ways we can. I have training in trauma, so I deal with a lot of kids who’ve been through traumatic experiences,” she said.

The arrival of a therapy dog in August will aid her in that work.

“The dog would come with me to all of my school buildings. My hope is that it would be an icebreaker for the kids, that I’m not just somebody with a badge and a gun. They come and pet my dog,” Dorhout said. “You can look at any number of studies on the therapeutic benefits of a therapy dog in post-traumatic events or when somebody’s trying to recall details of a post-traumatic event.”

The mental health deputy position could become the first contact point for the sheriff’s office when calls come in about suspected mental health issues.

“We wanted to hire a deputy who could be a deputy first — you need to go into the homes and make sure they’re safe but after that, assess the mental needs,” Van Voorst said.

He was able to find someone who fit the bill, Zach McKee of Hawarden. Although he has no previous law enforcement experience, he did have a double major in criminal justice and psychology. He’s set to receive formal training at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy this winter.

As Haverdink reminded the audience, most deputies and police officers don’t have that kind of background or training, making them a poor fit for addressing problems caused by mental health issues.

Drugs’ impact

Drugs are especially a complicating factor in all this. In some cases, mental health problems can drive a person into drug problems or a person’s drug problems can cause or worsen mental health problems.

Of course, it’s not always the case, Haverdink said, but it is something frequently seen in law enforcement.

He recalled one case where he pulled a driver over who had been using meth.

“About two weeks later, he called me and says he hears me talking to him on the radio. I started to look into this guy a bit more and found somebody in our office that went to high school with him. This person has had a severe mental illness for a long time, even back in high school,” Haverdink said. “The way he’s now trying to cope with it is by using meth or other drugs. I ended up meeting with this guy and he talked about the planets up in the sky, that there are drones flying around and talking about going into different universes and things like that.

“That’s one of the issues we deal with. We might be going to a drug call but there’s also a mental health crisis going on or a mental health call, but now there’s also drugs. We get to deal with both sides of that.”

Law enforcement isn’t a replacement for mental health resources, but it is up to the officers to try to make sure these people and everyone around them are safe. Services such as Seasons Center for Behavioral Health are working to fill that gap, Haverdink said.

“If they’re not to that level where they’re a serious threat but they still need some help, there was a long time where we didn’t have anything to fill in that gap. We were stuck because they needed help and wanted help but we didn’t have anything we could do,” Haverdink said. “That’s where the Seasons Center crisis team was able to come and provide a resource on scene at any time and provide the follow-up resources as well.”

Iowa has a long way to go to improving how it addresses mental health.

A 2017 report by the Treatment Advocacy Center ranked Iowa last among the states for its shortage of psychiatric beds available, with only 1.2 beds per 100,000 adults. The national average is about 12 beds per 100,000.

That lack of beds continues to strain law enforcement resources, as DeBruin attested.

“A lot of them, we have to go all the way across the state of Iowa to transport them. You have to go to Dubuque or somewhere else on the other side of the state, a 10-hour trip right there. Just trying to find the manpower to do that when we’re already short-handed as it is,” DeBruin said. “That’s why it’s a good thing we’re getting a mental health deputy to help combat some of these issues that we’re facing.”

This need to address mental health issues in the county will require law enforcement agencies in Sioux County to work together.

“We want to work with them and help,” Van Voorst said. “We don’t want to come in and take anything away, but if they could benefit from this, we’re all for it. It’s a county resource.”

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