Southeast nebraska law enforcement mental health partnership project - the southeast nebraska law enforcement-mental health partnership project will be led by the mental health association of nebraska…

Southeast nebraska law enforcement mental health partnership project - the southeast nebraska law enforcement-mental health partnership project will be led by the mental health association of nebraska (MHA). The individuals to receive mental health awareness training include law enforcement, first responders, and peer specialists who come into contact with persons in the 16 county-area of southeast nebraska with serious mental illness, substance use issues and trauma, people with lived experience in the behavioral health and/or criminal justice systems, veterans, the lgbtq+ population, the previously incarcerated, and people who are potentially suicidal or a danger to others. This includes youth, adolescents, transitional-aged youth, adults, and older adults. The individuals receiving mental health awareness training include 742 sworn law enforcement officers in 16 southeast nebraska counties. Approximately 350 of these sworn officers are in the city of lincoln, nebraska, lancaster county. MHA's plan is to implement law enforcement training derived from crisis intervention training (CIT), an evidenced-based practice to teach individuals signs and symptoms of mental illness, emphasizing DE-escalation. Additionally, MHA will implement the evidenced-based practice of intentional peer support (IPS). The first goal of the proposed project is to expand the "respond, empower, advocate, and listen" (R.E.A.l) program into the 15 rural counties of southeast nebraska with the objectives of hiring 1.5 FTE peer specialists to respond to referrals from law enforcement officers in rural counties and expanding mental health awareness training into three new counties each year, totaling 15 counties over the five years of the life of the grant. The second goal is to increase referrals for behavioral health services to community-based providers with the objectives of formalizing a referral process for law enforcement officers to report calls for service from individuals struggling to live successfully in the community due to mental health and/or substance use issues to a team of community providers, and to train each of the seven region v systems' network providers on the appropriate process for collaboration with law enforcement and how to receive referrals for service from law enforcement officers and/or peer specialists. The final project goal is to increase the numbers of sworn officers trained in mental health awareness. The objectives of this final goal are to provide mental health awareness training to 80% of the sworn officers in the region v systems' service area and to recruit representatives from each of the 40 law enforcement agencies in the service area to participate in the mental health awareness training. The number of unduplicated individuals to be trained with grant funds on an annual basis will be 130, with a total of 650 unduplicated individuals being trained over the lifetime of the project. MHA is well-positioned to swiftly and successfully implement this mental health awareness training project in partnership with regional law enforcement agencies, the region v behavioral health authority, and the university of nebraska public policy center.