Washington Co. team connects people struggling with mental health issues to help, services
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WASHINGTON COUNTY, OR (KPTV) — With mental health increasingly becoming an issue local law enforcement officers have to deal with, more law enforcement agencies are developing ways to respond.
In Vancouver, the police department recently announced a new partnership that would place full-time mental health responders to work with officers in the field.
A similar program has been deployed with success for several years in Washington County.
In 2019, the county’s Mental Health Response Team, which places a clinical social worker in a patrol car alongside a sheriff’s deputy, responded to more than 2,000 behavioral health incidents, and responded as support on more than 3,000 criminal investigations.
“I think the great thing that we do is that we’re really able to slow down and just try to work with a person. Find out what can really help them at that moment to stabilize that situation that they’re experiencing,” said Christy Harangozo, a clinical social worker with Lifeworks Northwest.
The team offers people struggling with mental health issues immediate intervention, and a path toward services like counseling or drug treatment.
“If we can divert that person, help them get some resources or get to a hospital if that’s what they need, it’s better for them, it’s better for the community, it’s better for us,” said Deputy Shannon Wilde, a member of the Mental Health Response Team.
In the event that a person isn’t receptive or wants to be left alone, Wilde said, team members typically back off, unless they think the person is a danger to themselves or someone else.
Wilde said most people appreciate the opportunity to talk.
“There’s a common misconception out there that people with mental illness out there are dangerous and violent, and of course they can be, but that’s not the norm. Most people we go out in the community and engage with, they’re calm. They want help,” said Wilde.
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