As part of a broader nationwide effort to improve policing methods, Salina-area law enforcement will undergo a program that helps equip officers to handle calls involving mental health disorders and illnesses.

There are a variety of reasons why law enforcement might interact with someone experiencing a mental health crisis, but being prepared for those situations is part of the job many don’t initially anticipate. As mental health issues continue to be on the rise, localities like Salina are working in partnership with mental health experts to change how these interactions play out.

Ericka Lysell, a mental health liaison at Salina Public Schools and longtime mental health social worker, said partnerships between law enforcement and mental health professionals is paving the way for better outcomes.

“People don’t go into law enforcement and say ‘I want to work in mental health,’” Lysell said. “But now you have to have a foundation or some knowledge for first-response jobs.”

Salina police officers and their K-9 unit set up a booth at the Saline County National Night Out event Aug. 1. Officers will participate in a training for interacting with people having a mental health crisis later this month.

More service calls in Salina now involve mental health issues

Lysell worked with officer Chris Venables at the Salina Police Department to plan a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training this month. From Aug. 14-18, law enforcement officers from Salina Police, the Saline County Sheriff’s Office, Community Corrections workers, dispatchers and others will join forces for a 40-hour curriculum centered around interactions with people experiencing mental health issues.

With approximately one-third of service calls in Salina now involving a mental health component, Venables said the training is essential for officers to do their jobs well.

“Officers learn to better help or assist people in mental health crisis and get a better understanding of mental health disabilities,” Venables said. “A lot of things have to do with mental health now and sometimes substance abuse and mental health hand-in-hand.”

CIT training is a nationwide program that got its start in 1988. In the 35 years since its inception, it has grown to create a curriculum with key focus points of de-escalation, base knowledge of disorders and connecting individuals with resources.

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Lysell said the training covers different diagnoses like mood disorders and psychotic disorders, as well as homelessness, veterans and other populations that are at-risk.

Trooper Ben Gardner with the Kansas Highway Patrol talks to Yui Iwatomo, 6, and Lacie Bohn, 6, at the National Night Out event Aug. 1. Salina law enforcement officers are having Crisis Intervention Team training this month.

Program known nationwide for de-escalation practices

As part of the CIT training, role players act out scenarios from a script playing an individual with varying levels of mental health disorders and illnesses. Officers will interact with them and get feedback from mental health workers.

There are classroom-like settings as well, where officers will learn about different disorders and illnesses and the signs they might be dealing with an individual experiencing them.

“It’s about working as a team between the clinician and law enforcement to get the right things to say, know how to act, things to look for so we can help them through that crisis and get them the help that they need,” Venables said.

Venables and Lysell serve on the state Crisis Intervention Team Council, helping other localities get in on the training it provides. A while back, Venables attended a larger-scale CIT training in Salt Lake City to get a hand on what all goes into these programs.

CIT has been in Salina since at least 2016 but took a break during the pandemic. This year’s training is the first one in Salina since 2019. In coming years Salina Police hopes to expand its reach by inviting law enforcement from surrounding areas in central Kansa to take part.

Venables said he is grateful for partnerships like these and the ability to get help from experts when extreme or unordinary circumstances arise.

“It’s really nice to have officers trained in (crisis intervention) because mental health is an issue that’s not going away,” Lysell said.

Commissioner Joe Hay (left) talks with Saline County Sheriff Deputy Rick Heinrich at National Night Out. Amid a broad effort to improve policing methods, Salina-area law enforcement will learn how to interact with people experiencing mental health crisis.

To ‘serve and protect’ looks different today

Most people understand the law enforcement side of policing, Venables said, but not everyone grasps the community caretaking aspect of their jobs, like helping someone whose car broke down on the side of the road.

“We get all sorts of calls to do things that people wouldn’t really believe we get calls for,” Venables said. “We’ve got calls about someone being locked out of their house, and while that’s not really our deal, we help connect them with a locksmith.”

More: Saline County approves ARPA funding for mental health responders

Venables said he remembers the days before CIT training was widely available. Back then, officers had a completely different approach to mental health calls.

“Police and law enforcement were dealing with people having these mental health issues and… officers didn’t really understand, and maybe they knew they had a mental health issue, but police didn’t really know what to do other than, ‘well if they’re breaking the law, then we’ll take them to jail,” Venables said.

Now, a shift in the culture through education and training of law enforcement officers has provided them with the ability to handle more mental health situations. The focus, Lysell said, is de-escalation and connecting people with resources.

But that, too, has its challenges.

“It’s not illegal for people to have mental health problems, and the community doesn’t always understand that,” Venables said.

More: How a Salina school program helps connect students with mental health services

“You’ll get a call from someone saying: ‘He’s out talking to himself on Santa Fe (Avenue). You need to get him somewhere,’” Lysell said. “But you can’t force someone to get help. They have the freedom to make those choices themselves if they are not a danger to themselves or others.”

If someone is a danger to themselves or others, the law allows officers to take more immediate action. This often leads to officers taking people to a hospital for a mental health evaluation or getting a medical screening.

But after CIT training, officers are better equipped in those situations, too, Venables said.

“It’s really to get a better grasp on what people need in the community,” he said.

Kendrick Calfee has been a reporter with the Salina Journal since 2022, primarily covering government and education. You can reach him at kcalfee@gannett.com or on Twitter (now known as “X”) @calfee_kc.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina training equips officers for mental health crisis situations

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Note: this article discusses the increase in anxiety, depression, self-harm and related illnesses among adolescents. Parents and students dealing with these issues can find local resources at the Central Kansas Mental Health Center. Those in a crisis situation can call their emergency line at 785-823-6322.

Students across the U.S. are facing an unprecedented public health crisis, one that has been playing out in the backgrounds of some lives, and in a more present and public view for others.

Medical professionals are seeing a growing number of teenagers and school-aged children who are in need of mental health services. Soaring rates of anxiety, mood disorders and self-harm are among top concerns of school psychologists and social workers.

A decline in student mental health was exacerbated by circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic, like isolation and limited social interactions. But it was also there before the virus had its effect on communities across the globe.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for people ages 10 to 24, suicide rates increased nearly 60% from 2007 to 2018.

It’s an issue that can seem far-off, shrouded in the things that make school fun for students. But behind the curtain, these issues have affected student attendance, grades and social behaviors that impede a healthy development into adulthood.

“It’s something we’ve seen first-hand and we take seriously,” said Ericka Lysell, a liaison for the USD 305 Mental Health Intervention Team.

Mental Health Intervention Team connects students and families with resources

The reality of staggering statistics on declining mental health has inspired programs that have a real and measurable impact on students and their families. One example of this is the Mental Health Intervention Team at Salina Public Schools, and others like it across Kansas.

The Kansas State Department of Education has invited districts to submit grant proposals for projects that coordinate school-based services with a community mental health center.

At USD 305, the Mental Health Intervention Team, or MHIT, provides grants to hire school liaisons who assist and provide mental health services to students.

Lysell is one of those liaisons. In her role, she works to help ensure students and their families are getting the services that they need. Her team presents options to families and support them throughout the referral process. Then, trained mental health providers in Salina provide the services.

“It’s run exactly like you would be seen at the mental health center,” Lysell said. “But with the convenience of being on-site at the schools.”

Salina Public Schools and the Central Kansas Mental Health Center have been partnering for many years. The MHIT program itself has been in the works since 2019, after the state piloted the grant program in 2018.

This month, the district approved and put forward an application requesting funding for six school liaison positions, totaling $308,333 with a $102,778 district match. These funds pay for the school liaison salaries and benefits, and a payment to Central Kansas Mental Health.

The kinds of services offered through the program include nearly everything Central Kansas Mental Health has to offer, but in the school setting it is primarily therapy, case management and social skill group services. The MHIT is open to students in all district elementary, middle and high schools, including the Salina Virtual Innovation Academy.

What are experts saying about the cause of growing mental health issues among adolescents?

When Lysell began work with the district, she had been with Central Kansas Mental Health for 21 years. Throughout that time, she said she observed a lot of change.

There are many factors that contribute to poor mental health, but some factors experts seem to agree on the most when it comes to young people are effects of social media, and pressures from school and home life.

New kinds of pressures are being put on students, too, Lysell said. Her team sees a lot of students whose parents have legal issues or are going through a divorce. More often, she has noticed parents having their kids as confidants and entrusting their children with social pressures in family situations; a set of impossible circumstances that are just not suitable for the shoulders of a kid trying to navigate middle school science.

“I would say anxiety and depression are the two most major things that we see,” Lysell said. “And a lot of those things are related to social media and troubled home life.”

Cyberbullying through social media and pressures to fit in not just in the real world but through online platforms has caused heightened anxiety in students.

The MHIT often hears from parents about situations of pages dedicated to bullying and harassment. The MHIT works to report those pages, but they cannot monitor students’ social media directly.

“The need (for mental health services) has definitely grown,” Lysell said. “Our numbers the first year… we had around 250 students receiving services. And our numbers now are more than 600.”

In just two years, the number of students taking advantage of the MHIT program in Salina Schools grew 140%.

The fact that more people are taking advantage of mental health services alone doesn’t necessarily mean that problem did not exist before, Lysell said. Part of the story is that more people, young people at least, are doing away with a long-standing stigma around mental health and seeking help.

“People think anxiety is you bite your nails, or you bounce your leg,” Lysell said. “True anxiety is so much more than that… there’s a healthy level of anxiety and it can be good, but anxiety can be truly debilitating. And that’s what we’re seeing — the not-healthy anxiety.”

When students get the help they need, the result is often better academic and social outcomes

Lysell and her team have observed more young people being open about mental health struggles and their path toward improving their own mental health.

While there are still individuals who prefer and have the right to be more private in that regard, Lysell said she has seen students discuss therapy and other services together in a healthy manner.

“I believe that parents still have more stigma than the kids do,” Lysell said. “So, students are talking about it, and it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Then, sometimes you call the parents, and they’ll say, ‘oh, they don’t really need that.'”

Though there is still progress to be made with the stigma surrounding mental health services, Lysell said it is good to see this transition happening.

Each year, the MHIT completes a report tracking the outcomes of services it provides. The measurable outcomes that have a real impact on students and families include attendance, academics, internalized behaviors and externalized behaviors.

For the 2022-23 school year, here are some of the highlights from that report:

• 635 students were served in 2022-23, this is a total of 71 more students served than last academic year
• Of the 635 students receiving services, 76% improved attendance
• Of the 635 students receiving services, 65% improved academic performance
• The MHIT had fewer students who received services drop out (0.63%) during the school year

“Good mental health is associated with positive relationships and healthier choices,” said Jody Craddock-Iselin, director of support services at USD 305. “Students who feel good physically and mentally perform better academically.”

How can a family in Salina Public Schools take advantage of the MHIT program?

Students and families in USD 305 who are interested in mental health services should contact their school counselors or school social workers to get connected with members of the MHIT.

“Kids can never be put into any of those services without parental permission,” Lysell said. “The parents have to all agree and fill out the necessary paperwork to complete the referral process.”

The MHIT encourages anyone thinking about mental health services to contact them. While taking that step can seem overwhelming, the professionals hired in these roles aim to make the process easy and stress-free as possible.

“Our process really just tries to alleviate a lot of the stress and the wait for families,” Lysell said.

Kendrick Calfee has been a reporter with the Salina Journal since 2022, primarily covering county government and education. You can reach him at kcalfee@gannett.com or on Twitter @calfee_kc.

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