Mental health in focus at LEPH2021

Mental health is everyone’s business: it affects us all. Among the sessions curated below are speakers with lived experience of ill mental health and researchers presenting the perspectives of mental health care professionals and caregivers of children and young people who have experienced mental health care as well as with police involvement.

Presentations also address de-policing of mental health issues and alternative responders to mental health crises. The mental health of first responders and trauma-informed responses are also featured strongly in this thematic area with much to offer for delegates, practitioners, researchers and policy makers.

Be sure to mark them in your diary!

List of sessions:

M9: Cop, researcher, and psychologist: the benefits of meaningful officer health and wellness partnerships

M13: Connecting law enforcement with mental health professionals via technology to address urgent needs in rural communities 

Tu14: Proffered papers:  Law enforcement and mental health

Tu20:  Why Law Enforcement should think, prepare, train and discipline like an elite athlete: it could save lives, especially yours! 

W7: Police resilience and mental health 

W16: Proffered papers:  Law enforcement and mental health

W19: Proffered papers:  First responder health and wellbeing 

Th18: Proffered papers:  First responder health and wellbeing

Th19: Understanding mental health impacts for police of co- occurring critical events: mass public demonstrations, de- funding police and a health pandemic 

F10: Genuine collaborations to enhance police mental health 

F11: Proffered papers: Law enforcement and mental health Tracking and managing crisis risk across borders: Developing regional/national networks

F12: Proffered papers: Male mental health

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M9: Cop, researcher, and psychologist: the benefits of meaningful officer health and wellness partnerships

This session is currently scheduled for M9 ( Day 1, Monday 22 March at 12:00 PM – 12:50 PM EST)

Session description:

2019, the Voorhees Police Department in southern New Jersey embarked upon building a holistic officer health and wellness framework for their approximately 60 officers. The wellness program was rooted in Lt. Bill Walsh’s 2017 capstone project from the graduate certificate program at Temple University. The project called for the creation and implementation of a holistic health and wellness program for a police department along with research components to evaluate the program pre and post-intervention. The plan called for strong partnerships with culturally-competent mental health professionals and researchers. Ultimately, components included one-on-one individual wellness visits and family/support system seminars to be conducted by Dr. Jennifer Kelly, a board-certified police and public safety psychologist, as well as ongoing research analyses. The ability to add additional interventions over time and modify existing components based upon the research outcomes allows for growth and continuity.

Dr. Patricia Griffin of Holy Family University led the research components of the officer health and wellness program due to her culturally-competency and law enforcement research background. One of the key components to achieving buy-in for both the health and wellness program and the companion research lied in the purposefulness of the onboarding, educational, and rollout process. Policy development included cautious attention to detail and word choice. During the program, attendees will be afforded the opportunity to hear about the onboarding, research, education, policy, intervention, and feedback portions of the program from each of the three team members.

Moderator:

• William D Walsh, Voorhees Police Department, New Jersey  (USA)

Lt. Bill Walsh of the Voorhees Police Department has been in law enforcement since the age of 16, beginning as a dispatcher in 2000 and later as an officer in 2003. Bill has served as a field training officer, patrol sergeant, Community Affairs Sergeant, Community Affairs Lieutenant, and now serves as a Lieutenant overseeing the Patrol Bureau and is the Department’s Health and Wellness Coordinator.

Bill was personally impacted by two police suicides within months of each other. During the same period, he was working towards attaining a master’s degree in administrative science. Bill began to study police stress and suicides and successfully presented on the topic to close out his coursework and earn his degree. His capstone project called for the creation of a course designed for supervisors to educate them on the problem of police stress and suicides and teach them how they can help themselves and those that they lead. The course was successfully implemented at the Gloucester County Police Academy’s Police Supervision School in 2011 and has been a requirement ever since.

Bill continued his education by attending the inaugural Police Leadership graduate certificate program at Temple University in 2016-2017. His capstone laid out a plan to implement a holistic officer health and wellness program at a police agency. Bill’s graduate and post-graduate research and program design were used in the implementation of the Voorhees Police Department Officer Health and Wellness Program in late 2019, which includes automatic annual wellness check-ups with a board-certified police and public safety psychologist. The program was designed and implemented with various interventions including family seminars, the formation of a multi-agency police peer support team, financial wellness, and research components.

Bill has presented, co-presented, and moderated for local, county, state, and federal government organizations and at numerous peer-reviewed international conferences including the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conferences in Philadelphia in 2017, three courses at the IACP in Chicago in 2019, and one course at the IACP Officer Safety and Wellness conference in Miami. In 2019 he co-authored a book chapter on early intervention systems in a peer-reviewed text on first responder wellness with Dr. Jennifer Kelly. Bill has been published in several editions of the IACP’s Police Chief Magazine on community mental health and officer health and wellness programming. Bill provides consultation on best practices in health and wellness programs, family wellness, peer support, critical incident response protocols, and holistic early intervention strategies to individual agencies and through the NJ Joint Insurance Fund and the IACP/U.S. Department of Justice Collaborative Reform Initiative Technical Assistance Center, and the National Police Foundation. He also serves in a peer-review capacity for the National Institute of Justice and the IACP.

Bill serves as an adjunct instructor at Rowan College of South Jersey and as a police academy instructor. He has served on a critical incident stress management team for the southern portion of New Jersey for five years and recently founded and serves as the program coordinator for the Multi-Agency Police Peer Support (MAPPS) Team.

In 2019, Bill was blessed to have been honored with the prestigious International Association of Chiefs of Police 40 Under 40 award for his work in officer wellness, community engagement, and mentoring other law enforcement professionals and those who will enter the field in the future. He is currently working towards his second master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling.

Speakers:

• Jennifer Kelly, Police and Public Safety Psychologist (USA
• Patricia Griffin, Holy Family University (USA)

 

M13: Connecting law enforcement with mental health professionals via technology to address urgent needs in rural communities 

This session is currently scheduled for M13 ( Day 1, Monday 22 March at 3:00 PM – 3:50 PM EST)

Session description 

In 2020, the role of law enforcement in our communities has been brought to the forefront. Much of this discussion has been around urban policing; the role of law enforcement in rural communities rarely garners national attention. About one in every ten calls to law enforcement involves someone in a potential mental health crisis. In many communities across the country, especially rural communities, law enforcement is the only responder to these calls. This panel will highlight Virtual Crisis Care, an innovative and collaborative approach to bringing mental health professionals together with law enforcement at the scene of a crisis in rural areas.

Mobile crisis teams work closely with officers and can assess individuals, create safety plans, recommend hospitalization, and connect people with community-based services. As with many promising programs, rural communities have largely been without access to mobile crisis teams. Why? Because this model is difficult to implement in rural areas due to cost, distance, lack of mental health workforce, and relatively low utilization. However, using economies of scale and telehealth as a workforce multiplier such programs are possible in rural communities.

Virtual Crisis Care is built upon the belief that law enforcement working in rural communities should have access to the same crisis services as urban areas so they can best respond to people experiencing mental health crises. The program is an innovative partnership between South Dakota’s state court system, tele-behavioral health provider, and a sheriff’s association. Virtual Crisis Care provides officers with 24/7 access to behavioral health professionals via tablets and the use of telehealth.

Too often people in crisis are brought to the highest level of care and most expensive setting, whether that be a hospital or jail, when they would benefit from staying home and receiving mental health services locally. Virtual Crisis Care is a solution to connecting people to timely and appropriate local care. It aims to significantly reduce emergency mental health holds and hospitalizations.

In this session, attendees will see a demonstration of how Virtual Crisis care works, learn how the program was conceived and implemented and about challenges faced and outcomes to date.

 

Moderator: 

Barbara Pierce, Crime and Justice Institute (USA)

Bio

Barbara Pierce has more than 20 years of experience in criminal justice and consulting at the county, state, and federal levels. At CJI, Barbara leads a multi-site effort to assist states with the implementation of comprehensive criminal justice policy reforms, coordinates projects to improve criminal justice responses to those with mental health issues, and directs CJI’s Restrictive Housing projects to safely reduce the use of segregation in prisons and jails. Barbara is committed to improving the trajectory of justice policy and practice through strong and diverse partnerships and the real-world application of research to achieve better public and institutional safety outcomes. Barbara received her Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from the University of Southern Maine and has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Providence College.

Speakers:

• Greg Sattizahn, South Dakota Unified Judicial System (USA)

Bio

Greg Sattizahn was appointed State Court Administrator and General Counsel for the South Dakota Unified Judicial System on September 9, 2013. Greg has chaired South Dakota’s Juvenile Justice Oversight Council since its inception in 2015 and also chairs the Mental Health in the Criminal Justice System Oversight Council. He served on the adult justice reform Oversight Council until its expiration in 2018.

Prior to his appointment by the Supreme Court, Greg first began work with the Unified Judicial System as a Supreme Court Law Clerk for the Honorable Justice Richard W. Sabers. Following his clerkship, Greg practiced law for a private law firm and then returned to the Unified Judicial System as a Staff Attorney for the South Dakota Supreme Court. Greg subsequently served as the UJS Legal and Legislative Counsel and then the Director of Policy and Legal Services. He is a Sterling Honor Society graduate of the University of South Dakota School of Law and prior to law school obtained his bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University. He is admitted to practice law in South Dakota state and federal courts, Minnesota state and federal courts and the United States Supreme Court.

• Dave Ackerman, McPherson County Sheriff’s Office (USA)

 

• Brian Erickson, Avera eCARE

Brian Erickson MSN, RN, serves as a Clinical Officer at Avel eCare in Sioux Falls South Dakota. Brian has worked in clinical environments of pre-hospital, critical care flights, and emergency medicine. He holds a master’s degree in nurse administration from the University of Mary, Bismarck, N.D. Brian has worked with telemedicine since 2009 and oversees all telemedicine functions and relationships for Indian Health Services and is also the Officer responsible for the Behavioral Health and Specialty Clinic Service Lines. With more than 20 years of experience in improving the quality of healthcare, Mr. Erickson is well known for superior business leadership skills and demonstrated clinical and administrative accomplishments in both the hospital and telemedicine fields. His work is focused on collaborating with others to improve outcomes and core measurements, mentoring and developing team members, and delivering excellence at all levels. He is proficient in improving operational efficiency, increasing access to care, strategic planning, program assessment, and change management.

 

Tu14: Proffered papers:  Law enforcement and mental health

This session is currently scheduled for Tu14 ( Day 2, Tuesday 23 March at 2:00 PM – 2:50 PM EST)

Session description 

The presenters in this session will discuss themes related to law enforcement and mental health.

Naomi Zakimi and Alissa Greer will explain how police officers view their role in providing public health and social support to the community of people who use drugs in British Columbia, Canada. Their study focuses on understanding the police’s current role and what they think their role should be in addressing public health and social support.

Maria Liegghio is presenting the outcomes of a narrative study consisting of a thematic content analysis of semi-structured, one-to-one interviews conducted with frontline child and youth mental health practitioners and caregivers with a child that has been involved with the mental health system and a history of police involvement.

Ashleigh Stewart is exploring mental health contacts in the year prior to first adult imprisonment among men with a history of injecting drug use in Australia.

Abstracts:

• Maria Liegghio

In this paper, presented are the outcomes of a narrative study consisting of a thematic content analysis of thirteen, semi-structured, one-to-one interviews conducted with six frontline child and youth mental health practitioners and seven caregivers with a child between 12 and 24 years old involved with the mental health system, and a history of police involvement.  The focus of the interviews was on the experiences young people involved with the mental health system, and their caregivers, have of police encounters.   There were two main categories of themes to emerge. The first category describes the main reasons and nature of police encounters. Police services were accessed primarily for support to deescalate situations involving a distressed child. Encounters were most often described as negative and associated with stigma and criminalization. When positive, encounters were associated with the appropriate use of police authority or “compassionate policing”. The second theme describes the interactions between the child and youth mental health and police systems as exacerbating factors in the stigmatization and criminalization of distressed children and youth. Calls are made for more compassionate policing and for collaboration between the child and youth mental health and police systems rooted in a commitment to de-policing crisis responses with children and youth.

Moderator:

• Debbie Plotnick, Mental Health and Systems Advocacy, Mental Health America (USA)

Speakers:

Too many hats? Exploring the public health and social support roles of police officers in British Columbia, Canada 

• Naomi Zakimi, Simon Fraser University, School of Criminology (Canada)

 

• Alissa Greer, Simon Fraser University, School of Criminology  (Canada)

Alissa Greer is an Assistant Professor at the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. Her research focuses on qualitative methods, community engagement, police-community relations, and drug policy.

 

“I don’t want people to think I’m a criminal”: de-policing crisis responses for children and youth caught between the mental health and police systems 

 

• Maria Liegghio, School of Social Work, York University (Canada)

 

Mental health contacts in the year prior to first adult imprisonment among men with a history of injecting drug use in Australia 

 

Maria Liegghio is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at York University, Toronto, Canada. Her main areas of research are social work epistemology in mental health, in particular the stigma of mental illness in child and youth mental health, or more critically, psychiatrization as encountered by children and youth. She has extensive experience working as a child and family mental health therapist. Her current research is focused on the experiences psychiatrized children and youth and their caregivers have of crisis responses, policing, and police encounters; the provisioning contributions and resilience of youth living in poverty; and trauma and resilience as organizing frameworks for violence prevention and intervention in El Salvador.

 

• Ashleigh Stewart, Burnet Institute (Australia)

Ash is a PhD student at the Burnet Institute within the Public Health discipline. As part of her PhD, Ash is working on the Prison and Transition to Health Cohort Study, with her work focusing on the mental health service access among people involved in the criminal justice setting who have histories of injecting drug use. This work largely involves longitudinal data analysis and the use of extensive linked administrative health, social, and justice datasets.

 

Tu20:  Why Law Enforcement should think, prepare, train and discipline like an elite athlete: it could save lives, especially yours! 

This session is currently scheduled for Tu20 (Day 2, Tuesday 23 March at 4:00 PM – 4:50 PM EST)

 

Presentation description:

Law enforcement officers are tactical athletes and need elite, integrated, mind and body training to support performance and prevent ill-health.  One of the many pathways to build and optimize prevention involve interventions at both individual and organizational levels – creating a healthy positive organizational culture as well as building workplace health promotion by reducing organizational risk factors and building individual as well organizational strengths and protective factors. This presentation will focus on various strategies to help build organizational and individual strengths as part of prevention resilience pathways to help mitigate risk factors to psychological injuries and suicide, reduce disability as well as to optimize human performance, including health prevention services with the outcome being to prevent psychological and physical ill-health.  Proactive approaches to sleep and fatigue will be discussed. The current physical and psychological toll on police will also be discussed, including the mental and emotional trauma stemming from social media, and exacerbated by current stressors, in turn, leading to distrust and fear and impacting health.  Canada, UK, US, & Australia International presentation

 

Moderator: 

Richard Southby (Australia)

Speakers:

• Katy Kamkar, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) , (Canada)
• Grant Edwards, Aspect Frontline, (Australia)
• Ian Hesketh, UK College of Policing  (England)
• Dale McFee, Edmonton Police Service, Alberta, (Canada)
• Kostantinos Papazoglou, New Jersey City University (NJCU) (USA)
• Paul Pedersen, Chief of Police, Greater Sudbury Police Service, Ontario  (Canada)
• Katrina Sanders Chief Medical Officer, Australian Federal Police  (Australia)
• Tom Stamatakis, President, Canadian Police Association, and the International Council of Police Representative (Canada)
• Jeff Thompson, Columbia University Medical Center, and New York City Police Department  (USA)

 

Bios:

Dr. Katy Kamkar, Ph.D., C. Psych., is a Clinical Psychologist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) & Assistant Professor within the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. She is the Chair, Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), Traumatic Stress Sector & Chair, Global Law Enforcement and Public Health (GLEPH), Police/First Responders Mental Health. She is the Executive Director, Canadian Association of Fire Investigators. She does specialise in the area of workplace mental health, disability management, resiliency and OSI first responders. In addition to her clinical work, her media engagement, and publications on mental health, she provides continuous Education and Workshops to Ministries and Organizations (National and International) on mental health in workplace and building individual and organizational resiliency.

Grant Edwards has recently retired from the Australian Federal Police having served in family law, international drug trafficking, major organised crime and people smuggling and cyber crime. He is presently the Head of Aspect Frontline. In 2003 he established the AFP’s Human Trafficking Team to address the crimes of sexual exploitation of women and children. Grant holds a Masters degree in leadership, policy and governance studies. He is also an accomplished sportsperson. He has competed across the world in Strongman events, including the 1999 Worlds Strongest Man competition in Malta and has won the Guinness World Record for single handedly pulling a 201 tonne steam locomotive. In 2017 he single handedly pulled a C-17 US Military Globemaster to raise awareness for mental health in Policing. In August this year, Grant published his book ‘‘The Strongman’, a memoir of his life as an Athlete, AFP Officer as well as his mental health struggles.

Dr Ian Hesketh was a British police officer for 30 years and is presently the Wellbeing Lead at the UK College of Policing and the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) for the National Police Wellbeing Service in the UK. Ian is an Honorary Researcher at Lancaster University Management School and holds a PhD in Management and Social Psychology. Ian also supports the National Forum for Health and Wellbeing at Manchester University Alliance Business School. His research interests are centered on Wellbeing, Resilience and Transformation in the context of Policing, and most notably he introduced the concept and phenomena of Leaveism to explain human behaviors associated with workplace workload and stress. In 2012 his article on Transformational Leadership during Change was voted one of the Top 5 Management Articles by the Chartered Management Institute.

Dale McFee, Chief of Police, Edmonton Police Service, Alberta, Canada. He is retired Police Chief, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; Retired Deputy Minister of Corrections and Policing in the Ministry of Justice for the Saskatchewan government; and Past President of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. He has lectured nationally and internationally on leadership, demand reduction and Community Safety and Wellbeing, thus is a passionate advocate for evidence based practices to change practice to the subject matter being discussed.

Dr. Konstantinos Papazoglou, Ph.D., C.Psych.  completed his postdoctoral appointment at Yale University School of Medicine. He completed his doctoral degree (PhD) in psychology (clinical – forensic area) as Vanier Scholar at the University of Toronto (U of T). He completed his doctoral clinical training at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (psychological trauma clinic; sexual behaviours clinic). Dr. Papazoglou is a former Police Major of the Hellenic Police Force and European Police College, and he holds a master’s degree in applied psychology from New York University (NYU) as Onassis Scholar. His research focuses on stress, trauma, and resilience-promotion among police officers. Dr. Papazoglou has established research collaboration with many law enforcement agencies in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, published book chapters and numerous scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals, presented his research in many scientific venues, and conducted workshops and presented to numerous government agencies in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. Finally, Dr. Papazoglou has also worked as a clinical forensic psychologist with the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services providing clinical services (assessment and treatment) to criminal justice offenders.

Paul Pedersen Chief of Police for the Greater Sudbury Police Service in Ontario, Canada. Holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration, has worked in policing for over 35 years in a variety of areas from general patrol to criminal investigations and is the immediate past President of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police.

Dr Katrina Sanders is the Chief Medical Officer for the Australian Federal Police.  She is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, has a Master’s Degree in Public Health and is the recipient of Australia Day Achievement Medallion 2019 for her work in health reform in support of law enforcement. Dr Sanders is internationally recognised as a key contributor to government and law enforcement policy on health.

 Tom Stamatakis, M.O.M., is the President of the Canadian Police Association, and the International Council of Police Representative Associations. He has received the Order of Merit of the Police Forces, is a Member of the Order of Merit (M.O.M.), and Officer of the Order of Merit (O.O.M.). 

 Dr. Jeff Thompson, Ph.D. is an adjunct associate research scientist at Columbia University Medical Center, a certified Psychological Autopsy Investigator with the American Association or Suicidology, and a Law Enforcement Detective in the New York City Police Department.

 

W7: Police resilience and mental health 

This session is currently scheduled for W7 ( Day 3, Wednesday  24 March at 11:00 AM – 11:50 AM EST)

Session description

Panel discussion about next steps in the field of researching human functioning in police work. Current research focus on interventions and instruments. Research into underlying mechanisms of resilience seems to be rare. It is time to explore new scientific grounds.

 

Moderator: 

Teun- Pieter de Snoo, Police Academy of The Netherlands 

Teun-Pieter is PhD-candidate at the Dutch Police Academy. He has a background in neurobiology. In his research, Teun-Pieter focuses on strengthening the resilience of Dutch police officers. Teun-Pieter is also course manager of the master’s degree on criminal investigation (MCI) at the Dutch Police Academy.

At the LEPH 2021, Teun-Pieter would like to discuss the next steps in the field of resilience of police officers.

Speakers:

• Gregory Anderson, Thompson Rivers University (Canada)
• Jonas Hansson, Umeå University(Sweden)

Bio

Trained police officer, Fil. Mag. in Education. PhD in Public Health. Senior lecturer at the Basic Training Programme for Police Officers at Umeå University. Ongoing research in different fields of policing. Project leader of evaluation projects of field-test with electroshock weapon (CEW). Involved in a research project connected to the Police Authority’s initiative with prioritized neighborhoods (Mareld), and conflict management and tactics. Research interests are police officers and police work in relation to mental health, coping, stress, discretion and resilience. I was formerly a police officer, police supervisor, police field training officer and instructor in tactics, weapon and self-defense.

 

W16: Proffered papers:  Law enforcement and mental health

This session is currently scheduled for W16 ( Day 3, Wednesday 24 March at 3:00 PM – 3:50 PM EST)

 Session description:

This session will discuss themes of law enforcement and mental health.

Taleed El-Sabawi will discuss a service initiated in Ontario, Canada that collaborates with community services and health care providers to identify individuals deemed “vulnerable” and proactively connect them with the services they need before they reach a crisis situation. Taleed will describe this early intervention program including from where referrals were generated from, the number, length, and type of calls, who was served by the program, what recommendations were made, and the outcomes of calls.

Rachel Bromberg is presenting the creation of a civilian-led mental health crisis response service in Toronto as a replacement to police response to non-violent mental health crises, as well as similar work being done in other cities.

Krystle Martin will be describing a proactive approach to policing that partners a police officer with a nurse. She will also discuss the intention that it is to support individuals who are identified as being “vulnerable” and prevent unnecessary criminal justice involvement.

 

Abstracts:

 

Taleed El-Sabawi

A significant number of the individuals the police come into contact with have a mental or substance use disorder. Furthermore, police services have been under significant public pressure to improve their response to individuals in mental distress. Since police are often the first point of contact for those with mental disorders experiencing a crisis, measures have been adopted by many police agencies to try to alleviate some of the pressure from this, for example Crisis Intervention Teams (CITs). Other approaches to crisis mental health calls include “street triage,” where a healthcare worker is paired with a police officer to help diffuse and handle situations. These co-response approaches are seen more favourably by service users, and have demonstrated some cost reductions. However, they are still a reactionary measure after a crisis has occurred. In an effort to respond more effectively to this growing issue, one service in Ontario, Canada initiated a collaboration with community services and health care providers to identify individuals deemed “vulnerable” and proactively connect them with the services they need before they reach a crisis situation. Therefore, an officer-nurse team engaged individuals in the community with the specific objectives of reducing repeat police calls, hospital visits, and/or arrests, preventing unnecessarily criminalizing people. Additionally, individuals were provided information and support to access resources they needed and follow-up care outside of the criminal justice system. This talk will describe this early intervention program including from where referrals were generated from, the number, length, and type of calls, who was served by the program, what recommendations were made, and the outcomes of calls.

Moderator:

Roland Lamb, Deputy Commissioner, Planning and Innovation, Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual DisAbility Services, City of Philadelphia (USA)

Speakers:

Redistributing responsibility for emergency response: a model act for a Behavioral Health Crisis Response Team 

• Taleed El-Sabawi, Elon University School of Law  (USA)

Dr. El-Sabawi is an interdisciplinary scholar, with a JD from the University of Texas School of Law and a PhD in Public Health, Health Services Management and Policy with a doctoral cognate in Political Science from the Ohio State University. Her area of expertise is in addiction and mental health policy, politics and law. Dr. El-Sabawi has studied and written extensively on legislative decision-making, interest group mobilization and narrative discourse surrounding opioid overdose deaths; addiction policy history, specifically as it relates to regulation of potentially habit-forming substances; and substance use disorder treatment financing parity. Recently, Dr. El-Sabawi co-authored a model law that creates non-police behavioral health crisis response teams and has been assisting grassroots advocacy groups in developing narrative strategies to garner political support for the reform of institutions that perpetuate racial violence. Dr. El-Sabawi is on the board of advisors of the North Carolina Urban Survivors Union, a chapter of the Urban Survivors Union, and frequently works alongside persons who use drugs advocating for policy reform. Taleed El-Sabawi, JD, PhD is a scholar with the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at the O’Neill Institute.

The Reach Out Response Network: transforming community safety through civilian-led mobile crisis response 

• Rachel Bromberg, Reach Out Response Network (Canada)

Rachel Bromberg is the Canadian National Coordinator of the International Mobile Services Association, which is a service providers’ network connecting individuals across Canada and the United States who are building civilian-led mobile crisis services in their communities. Rachel is a member of the Toronto Regional Human Services and Justice Coordinating Committee and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s Constituency Council. She is currently completing a dual degree in law and social work (JD/MSW), and she has been working as a peer supporter and peer educator for the past seven years at organizations such as Stella’s Place, CAMH, Planned Parenthood, the LGBT Youth Line, and the Canadian Suicide Prevention Service. Rachel recently completed an internship with the CAMH Legal Department.

 

Rachel’s personal and professional experiences have catalyzed a deep interest in and passion for community-led mobile crisis services. She is invested in leading the way in a paradigm shift away from police response to mental health crisis towards a truly anti-oppressive, trauma-informed, community-based, and client-centred response that will promote individuals’ dignity, autonomy, self-determination, and resilience. When Rachel isn’t planning transformative systems change or world domination, she enjoys reading, Pilates, running at the beach, and spending time with her adorable (and incredibly assertive) seven-year-old sister.

Police-Public Health Partnership to serve vulnerable persons: examining an early intervention program 

• Krystle Martin, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Services  (Canada)

Krystle Martin is a clinical and forensic psychologist registered with the College of Psychologists of Ontario. She is currently a Research Scientist at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences. Her research is focused on the intersection between the mental health and criminal justice systems. Dr. Martin holds adjunct graduate faculty status at Ontario Tech University in both the Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Science and Humanities, as well as at York University, and currently provides supervision to several graduate students. She also maintains a small private practice and specializes in supporting first responders, as well as individuals who struggle with emotion regulation and are chronically suicidal.

 

W19: Proffered papers:  First responder health and wellbeing 

This session is currently scheduled for W19 ( Day 3, Wednesday 24 March at 4:00 PM – 4:50 PM EST)

Session description:

The presenters in this session will present on themes of first responder health and well-being.

Kelly Hine will present findings of three relevant empirical studies to provide a comprehensive picture of assaults towards police officers in the Australian context and will discuss the findings in terms of opportunities for preventing and reducing assaults towards police.

Joseph Schafer will present findings of in-depth interviews with 23 officers working for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to examine issues such as the various causes of officer stress, the consequences of experiencing high stress, and the ways in which officers sought to cope with their stressors.

Moderator:

Richard Bent, Simon Fraser University (Canada)

Speakers:

The dangers facing Australian police in the line of duty: Assaults against police officers 

• Kelly Hine, Australian National University

Dr Kelly Hine is a policing scholar in the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods (CSRM) at the Australian National University (ANU). Her research focuses on front-line policing practices and police citizen interactions. In particular, Dr Hine examines the decision-making process of officers during dynamic and rapidly unfolding situations, the use of force by police, officer injuries and fatalities, and police use of technology. In addition to her research interest in front-line policing, her areas of expertise also include police misconduct and integrity.

 

Police officer stress in a high crime community: causes, consequences, and coping mechanisms 

• Joseph Schafer, Saint Louis University (USA)

Joseph A. Schafer is Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice and Associate Dean of Research in the College for Public Health & Social Justice at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on policing, organizational change, leadership, citizen perceptions of police, and futures research in policing.

 

Th18: Proffered papers:  First responder health and wellbeing

This session is currently scheduled for Th18 ( Day 3, Wednesday 24 March at 3:00 PM – 3:50 PM EST)

Session description:

The presenters in this session will be discussing themes related to first responder health and well-being.

Lynda Crowley-Cyr will be presenting on Queensland’s Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Bill 2020 aimed at introducing presumption laws as an alternative pathway for speedier compensation for PTSD claims by first responders. She will argue these laws are too restrictive and suggest expanding presumptive coverage for all work-related mental health conditions.

Efunsola Sowemimo will discuss the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) as a vulnerable population in HIV programming compared to other uniformed institutions in Nigeria. Efunsola will discuss the prevalence of HIV within the NPF and identify factors influencing HIV infection among members of NPF.

Mario Morales will be presenting on needle stick injuries among law enforcers in Tijuana, Mexico and discussing results from a qualitative analysis of LEO reporting for health risks associated with needle sticks, behavioral changes and LEOs identifying the NSI protocol that was created after the SHIELD intervention.

 

COVID-19 and the ‘New Normal’: will Australia’s presumptive workers Police compensation laws for first responders be enough?)

• Lynda Crowley-Cyr, University of Southern Queensland  (Australia)

Dr Crowley-Cyr is an Associate Professor at the School of Law and Justice, University of Southern Queensland in Australia. Lynda holds a PhD from the University of Sydney Law School (2008) on the topic of homelessness and severe mental illness. She served on the Queensland Mental Health Review Tribunal for 3 years, the Mental Illness Fellowship of North Queensland for 1 year and she has published articles and book chapters in the area of mental health law and legal ethics. She teaches in the areas of negligence, contract law and health law at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Dr Crowley-Cyr’s research interests include health law, workplace law, risk communication, beach safety, and more recently, Covid19 and tourism. Dr Crowley-Cyr is published in leading journals such as University of Queensland Law Review, Journal of Law and Medicine, Griffiths Law Review, Tourism Review (in press) etc. and presents her work at national and international conferences.

Determinants of HIV Infection among members of the Nigeria Force 

• Efunsola Sowemimo, Nigeria Police Force 

    (Nigeria)

 

Dr. Efunsola Sowemimo is a medical practitioner with postgraduate degrees in Public Health and Health Management, Planning and Policy. She worked in the Nigeria Police Force for over thirty two years and retired as the Deputy Force Medical Officer and National Coordinator of the Police Action Committee on HIV/AIDS. She is one of the Country Focal Points for the LEAHN in Nigeria.

Needle stick injuries among police officers in Tijuana, Mexico 

• Mario Morales, The University of Arizona  (USA)

I am an anthropologist and demographer with graduate studies on interdisciplinary research on substance use. I am interested in studying drugs, violence, and illegality. To do so, I use an interdisciplinary and mixed-methods approach.

 

Th19: Understanding mental health impacts for police of co- occurring critical events: mass public demonstrations, de- funding police and a health pandemic 

This session is currently scheduled for Th19 ( Day 4, Thursday 25 March at 4:00 PM – 4:50 PM EST)

 Session description

In 2020 law enforcement agencies, police leaders and their officers have experienced three co-occurring critical eventsthat have significant implications for health and wellbeing. Police have served in a time of extraordinary circumstances: widespread mass public demonstrations, persistent calls for the defunding of police and a global health pandemic. The panel will explore these events from multiple viewpoints.

Presentation 1: Mass demonstrations and calls to defund police: Understanding the impact on police identity. (Presenter: Dr Thomas Coghlan)

From the perspective of a clinical practitioner, the panel will address how mass public demonstrations and defunding police is likely to significantly impact on the identity of police and what this means for officers themselves and their agencies.

 

Presentation 2: Police experiences of COVID-19: Current concerns and future impacts on the wellbeing of police and their families. (Presenter: Dr Jacqueline Drew)

Drawing on recent survey data conducted with members of the National Fraternal Order of Police, we will explore emerging empirical evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health and wellbeing of officers and their families. The immediate and longer-term psychological impacts of COVID-19 on police will be explored.

 

Presentation 3: Supporting law enforcement officers in times of uncertainty: Strategies and resources to promote healthy and productive police workplaces. (Presenter: Ms Sherri Martin)

Moving to action, the panel will examine specific proactive strategies and resources that are needed in contemporary law enforcement to promote healthy and productive workplaces and to support their officers. Specific examples of approaches being trialed to achieve these aims will be critiqued and discussed.

 

Moderator: 

Jacqueline Drew, Griffith University  (Australia)

Dr Jacqueline Drew is a police scholar with the Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University, Australia. Dr Drew has over 20 years of experience in law enforcement, as a practitioner and researcher. She is a psychologist and holds a PhD in organizational psychology. She provides expert advice to law enforcement on organizational systems and personnel practices, including police mental health and suicide, leadership, promotion systems and gender equity.

Speakers:

• Thomas Coghlan, ret. NYPD / Blue Line Psychological Services, PLLC  (USA)

Dr. Coghlan is a Cinical Psychologist specialized in Police & Public Safety Psychology. He is a retired NYPD Detective, a past Visiting Law Enforcement Fellow with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and currently serves as a Clinical Psychologist with the Department of Homeland Security. He operates a private practice in Great Neck, NY where he exclusively treats police officers and their families. He is the New York Area Clinician for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Employee Assistance Program, a network clinician with the Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance, and an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at John Jay College. He conducts both psychological pre-employment and fitness-for-duty evaluations for a variety of public safety agencies in New York and New Jersey.

• Sherri Martin, National Fraternal Order of Police  (USA)

Sherri Martin serves as the National Director of Wellness Services for the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the largest representative organization of law enforcement officers in the United States, with over 356,000 members. A career police officer, Sherri has extensive experience in crisis negotiation and intervention, serving most of her law enforcement career as a patrol supervisor and lead crisis negotiator. While a member of the Charleston Police Department in South Carolina, where she served the bulk of her career, she achieved the rank of Lieutenant, and was responsible for the development of programs in the areas of officer wellness and crisis intervention within the community. Sherri earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of North Carolina and a Master of Arts degree in Clinical Counseling Psychology from the Citadel, where she was chosen by faculty to receive the J. Patrick Leverett Award presented to the most outstanding graduate student in the Psychology program. Additionally, Sherri has experience in clinical therapy, having worked with clients suffering from PTSD and Clinical Depression during research conducted at Ralph H. Johnston Veterans Affairs Hospital in South Carolina. She is licensed as a Professional Counselor Associate in the State of Connecticut. While pursuing a Postgraduate Certificate in Forensic Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Sherri led the Fraternal Order of Police National Officer Wellness Committee in a landmark survey of police officers on the subjects of critical stress, stigma, and use of wellness services. Sherri served as a member of the National Consortium on Preventing Law Enforcement Suicide, led by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and has served as a contributor on various symposia on officer wellness and police suicide. Along with the FOP National Officer Wellness Committee, Sherri is currently working on the development of a national directory of culturally competent mental health providers for law enforcement. In partnership with the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the US Department of Justice, the Fraternal Order of Police has additionally received funding for the development of a nationally standardized curriculum in law enforcement peer support. Based upon the survey research conducted by the FOP, peer support is viewed by law enforcement officers as being the most effective intervention in times of crisis, despite over 90% of members of the profession feeling that there is a stigma against asking for help. To that end, Sherri and the FOP National Officer Wellness Committee are working to build a nationwide network of trained peer supporters that will enable an officer in crisis to find a peer anywhere in the country.

 

F10: Genuine collaborations to enhance police mental health 

This session is currently scheduled for F10 ( Day 5, Friday 26 March at 1:00 PM – 1:50 PM EST)

Session description:

It is widely known that in order to develop, implement, and sustain programs and initiatives that enhance police mental health, it needs to be a collaborative effort between the agency and outside public health organizations. Join us for this panel to find out how these diverse organizations have moved beyond the “words” of what should and needs to be done and have been actively engaged in the “action” of working with police to help.

You’ll hear from Columbia University Medical Center, Crisis Text Line, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention – New York City Chapter, and the American Association of Suicidology. They’ll be sharing how they have worked with police agencies in various aspects including suicide prevention, resilience programs, conducting training, assisting officers and the public in crisis, engaging in research studies, and police-public events. Importantly, they’ll offer suggestions, based on their experiences, on how you can create similar collaborations in either your police agency or if you an organization, with the police.

Moderator: 

Jacqueline Drew, Griffith University  (Australia)

Dr Jacqueline Drew is a police scholar with the Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University, Australia. Dr Drew has over 20 years of experience in law enforcement, as a practitioner and researcher. She is a psychologist and holds a PhD in organizational psychology. She provides expert advice to law enforcement on organizational systems and personnel practices, including police mental health and suicide, leadership, promotion systems and gender equity.

Speakers:

• Jeff Thompson, Columbia University Irving Medical Center (USA)

Jeff Thompson, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Associate Research Scientist at the Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology Research Area of the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University Medical Center.

Additionally, he is a 17-year law enforcement veteran detective with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and a former hostage negotiator. In his role at the NYPD, Detective Thompson is currently the first-ever Mental Health and Wellness Coordinator helping conduct research and outreach on the department’s suicide prevention efforts, reducing the stigma associated with mental illness, and raising awareness of resources available to both police officers and the public.

His research includes hostage negotiation in terrorist incidents, suicide prevention strategies, psychological autopsies, resilience and developing positive mental health strategies, and the use of effective communication during crisis incidents. He also develops and teaches curriculum on resilience, mental wellness, suicide prevention, crisis negotiation and communication, and engaging people in crisis and those with a mental illness. His training material has been implemented in police agencies across the United States and beyond.

Dr. Thompson received his doctorate from Griffith University Law School having researched the development of rapport, building trust, and displaying professionalism during conflict situations.

Dr. Thompson is also an adjunct instructor at Lipscomb University and New York University. Additionally, He is the recipient of the Griffith University Arts, Education and Law’s 2020 Outstanding International Alumnus Award and The New York City Police Foundation’s 2020 Hemmerdinger Award for Excellence for Distinguished Public Service.

• Matthew Faulk, Crisis Text Line (Australia)
• Amy Monahan, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention – New York City Chapter (USA)
• Colleen Creighton, American Association of Suicidology (USA)

Colleen Creighton joined the American Association of Suicidology in June 2017. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the Alliance for Consumer Education (ACE), a nonprofit foundation dedicated to the safe and responsible use of consumer household products. She also served as Director of CHPA Educational Foundation where she was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association’s educational foundation.

Prior to her work in the nonprofit foundation arena, Ms. Creighton worked in the educational field, having taught civics education at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels. Additionally, she spent three years in Lancut, Poland working for the International World Teach program, an organization based out of the Harvard University Center for International Development. Before that, she studied NATO and the European Union at the Irish Institute for European Affairs in Leuven, Belgium.

Colleen holds a B.A. in Political Science from the Catholic University of America and a M.A. in East European Studies from the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany.

 

F11: Proffered papers: Law enforcement and mental health Tracking and managing crisis risk across borders: Developing regional/national networks

This session is currently scheduled for F11 ( Day 5, Friday 26 March at 1:00 PM – 1:50 PM EST)

Session description:

The three presenters in this session will be discussing themes of law enforcement and well-being.

Paul Jennings will be briefing the conference on the SIM model of care that combines medical leadership from a mental health clinician and behavioral leadership from a police officer coproducing crisis care plans. He will update the conference on on the progress made, the core lessons learnt and the operational and clinical challenges still ahead.

Charlotte Gill will discuss how in rural communities, police departments are often the first and only resource available for people experiencing mental health issues. She will present results from a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of a police-mental health provider co-responder model for addressing mental health-related calls for service.

Clair White will discuss mental health calls, specifically using qualitative coding and content analysis of call data to better understand the nature of these calls and examine the characteristics with the calls. She will also be examining whether the characteristics of the calls were contextualized by crime levels and the environment of the street.

Abstracts:

Paul Jennings:

Responding to people in mental health crises is a naturally occurring feature of modern life, but why do some individuals repeat in their crises? How are they different? Do they need a specific type or style of response? Why do they cross health and policing borders? How do we understand repeat patients better and adapt what we do, to both improve care and reduce this kind of intensive demand?

The S.I.M model of care was first presented at LEPH Amsterdam 2014. SIM teams combine medical leadership from a mental health clinician and behavioural leadership from a police officer – in dedicated, patient centred support teams – coproducing crisis care plans. There are now 45 SIM teams across the U.K, training, operating and tracking patient risk as a single, High Intensity Network.

Now, 7 years on the High Intensity Network team are back to brief the conference on the progress made, the core lessons learnt and the operational and clinical challenges still ahead.

Three S.I.M based teams are also now live in St Paul, Minnesota, USA. An opportunity to connect with this team will also be possible through this presentation.

Moderator:

John F White Jnr, President and CEO of The Consortium, Philadelphia (USA)

Speakers:

Managing high intensity mental health crisis: the key lessons learnt after 8 years of developing a national solution 

• Paul Jennings, High Intensity Network (England)

Paul is a former mental health specialist police officer from the UK. He has played a leading role in the development of Street Triage Crisis Response Teams across the UK since 2012 and is now the Network Director of the High Intensity Network; a professional partnership of 22 Mental Health Trusts, 18 Police Forces and 4 Ambulance organisations, all committed to delivering better standards of response, support, prevention and digital connectivity for the most chaotic and challenging crisis patients across the U.K.

He is an NHS Innovation Accelerator Fellow, was a TEDxNHS Speaker in 2016 and is a Visiting Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NYC. His mental health innovations have won 4 National Awards including the prestigious Nursing Times Prince of Wales Award for Integrated Care, two HSJ Awards and a Patient Safety Award.

Paul also supports a growing network of high intensity intervention teams in Minnesota, USA.

Partners in crisis: improving police response to mental health crisis in a rural area 

• Charlotte Gill, George Mason University  (USA)

Charlotte Gill is Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University. Her primary research interests are community- and place-based crime prevention approaches, particularly with juveniles and youth; community policing; program evaluation; and research synthesis. Dr. Gill has over fifteen years of experience in applied experimental and quasi-experimental research and is currently partnering with police departments and community groups around the United States to develop and test community-led approaches to place-based prevention and improve police responses to people with mental health issues. Dr. Gill is also a member of the Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Group and a Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology. She is the recipient of a number of awards and honors, including the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship (2017-19) and the 2019 Outstanding Faculty – Rising Star award from the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia.

Mental health calls to the police: a descriptive look at characteristics of the calls and the role of place 

• Clair White, University of Wyoming  (USA)

Clair White is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wyoming. After completing her PhD at Arizona State University, she worked at the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University where she led data collection efforts on a large longitudinal study on crime hot spots in Baltimore. Her research interests include crime and place/communities, policing, and the criminal justice system’s response to mental health problems. Currently her work focuses on police responses to mental health crisis calls and the location of mental health crises in micro-geographic places in Baltimore, as well as other public health issues and social problems at crime hot spots. Her research has been published in a number of journals including British Journal of Criminology, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Criminology & Public Policy, Policing: A Journal of Policy & Practice, Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, American Journal of Community Psychology, and Journal of Drug Issues.

F12: Proffered papers: Male mental health

First responder health and wellbeing Why understanding male mental health is key to suicide prevention of law enforcement officers

This session is currently scheduled for F12 ( Day 5, Friday 26 March at 1:00 PM – 1:50 PM EST)

Session description:

Moderator:

Michael Scott, Director, Center for Problem Oriented Policing (USA)

Speakers:

Why understanding and supporting male mental health is key to suicide prevention of law enforcement officers 

• Toni White, For Our Men  (UK)

Toni White is a consultant, campaigner and speaker in men’s mental and emotional health, focusing on how workplace wellbeing can better understand and support men to reduce their suicide rate. She has been specialising in men’s mental health in Emergency Service, but particularly police, for over two years and has been credited with changing and saving many lives in that time.

The feasibility and acceptability of using smartwatches to intervene on continuous occupational stress among law enforcement officers 

• Katelyn Jetelina, University of Texas Health Science Center  (USA)

Dr. Katelyn Jetelina is a violence epidemiologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at University of Texas Health Science Center. Her research focuses on identifying health outcomes related to exposure to traumatic events among police officers. For the past 8 years, she has partnered with various police departments in the United States to inform departmental policies and occupational health and safety of officers.