MERRIAM, Kan. — Five police departments in Johnson County now have an extra co-responder to help with mental health cases.
A co-responder is a licensed clinician employed by the Johnson County Mental Health Center. They undergo specialized training on top of their mental health expertise to work with officers on scene.
The goal of the Co-Responder Program is to reduce unnecessary arrests, trips to the emergency room and repeat calls for service by connecting the individual to appropriate resources.
A co-responder will:
- Complete behavioral health assessments in the field when responding to 911 calls
- Listen to police radio to assist officers in the filed by providing them with information to allow for safety
- Conduct outreach with clients and/or family members in person or by phone
- Review police reports and inform JCMHC staff of police contact to expedite follow=up
- Participate in collaborative meetings to brainstorm how to have a team approach for high utilizers of multiple services
- Provide outreach to survivors/witnesses of a completed suicide or traumatic event to connect to support
- Participate in eviction with the Sheriff’s Office
- Provide behavioral health training witting the police departments
- Collect data from all interactions
The Merriam Police Department applied for the federal Justice Assistance Grant and used the money to hire extra personnel.
Until now, Jen Melby was the only co-responder overseeing Merriam, Roeland Park, Mission, Fairway and Westwood after Prairie Village and Lenexa broke off the coalition in 2019.
“Police are getting called out on these 911 calls that are mental health crisis," Melby said. "They aren’t social workers, they don’t know how to help people, and so they were usually either going to the ER when maybe they didn’t need to or they unfortunately could end up in jail."
Melby says last year alone, the county had over 2,200 calls related to mental health and as the sole co-responder, she was only able to respond to 25% of incoming calls for her region.
Emergency calls have doubled since 2017 at the Johnson County Mental Health Crisis Line.
Andy Massey, one of the new hires, says getting individuals the right intervention at the right time is the goal.
When they arrive on scene, they work to provide basic necessities first. This can include food, hygiene products and harm reduction tools for suicide or overdose.
“If we can give them something to say ‘Hey we’re here to help you,’ these are some of the easy things to be like we’re showing just an overall amount of compassion at the beginning of the intervention," Massey said.
Merriam Chief of Police Darren McLaughlin says while the program is extremely beneficial, there needs to be more long-term solutions at the state and federal level.
“We gotta go beyond the law enforcement’s role, the co-responder’s role and go ‘Okay, how do we really truly take care of these people in the long term basis?’ And that’s what we’re lacking right now," McLaughlin said.
