Families & Consumers:Contributions to Teaching CIT

Suzanne M. Andriukaitis, M.A., LCSW

Families & Consumers

• Why?

• What?

• When?

• Who?

Why?

• First person accounts– Real, genuine, honest– Underscore the didactic information

presented by clinicians about signs and symptoms

• Putting a face on mental illness

• Recovery potential

What?

• Examples of incidents when officers assisted person in accessing treatment.

• Examples of incidents where officers could have assisted person in accessing treatment. I wish that…

• Families’ accounts of how they felt about their interactions with officers around their family member who needed assistance.

When?

• Timing of family and consumer presentations in the training is important.

• After the basic overview of signs and symptoms of mental illness.

• Prior to the role play scenarios.

Who?

Always interview presenters in advance.• Families and Consumers must be

screened in advance for what their stories will reveal.

• Don’t assume that just because a person feels passionate about the need to educate law enforcement officers that their story will be educational for officers.

• Officers do not need to be bawled out.

What officers say about Family & Consumer Panels

• Family & Consumer Panels put a whole new slant on what we are truly dealing with.

• The family perspective panel was great. The personal story from each person hit home and I’m sure that I’ll think & react with more understanding the next time I encounter similar incidents.

What officers say about Family & Consumer Panels

• The Family & Consumer Panels gave me a better understanding of how mental illness can affect anyone and made me understand a little bit better how this illness affects everyone not just the person with mental illness.

• Family presentation has totally changed the way I will respond to consumers in need.

What officers say about Family & Consumer Panels

• Having a police officer tell his personal family story brings home the point of this training.

What officers say about Family & Consumer Panels

• Consumer presenters have made me realize that I need to exercise more patience and greater sensitivity when dealing with consumers.

• Hearing from consumers who are managing their mental illness was encouraging in that it demonstrates that there is hope.

• The consumer panel was 1000% more important than all topics today.

• Consumer Panel – Amazing!

What officers say about Family & Consumer Panels

• Consumer panel – very, very excellent. They really put a face with the story and NO ONE slept in class. It made me realize these subjects (people) are someone we can relate to. Someone’s grandparents, sister, brother, co-worker, etc.

What officers say about Family & Consumer Panels

• J.W.D. (Job Well Done). Awesome presentations.

What Family Members & Consumers say about their participation in educating officers.

• As a Latina, I know there is a lot of denial in the Latino community. It is important to raise awareness.

• It was important to me to share my story with the officers so they could hear about the embarrassment and shame that I felt when I needed to call for police assistance.

• I was fearful that my son would be hurt by the officers.

• I was afraid that he would hate me for having him hospitalized.

What Family Members & Consumers say about their participation in educating officers.

• Surprised by how interested the officers were in my story.

• They asked really good questions.

• I do this because I want people to be treated fairly. I want the officers to understand that these folks are not just acting out – they are ill.

What Family Members & Consumers say about their participation in educating officers.

• Telling my story has been an opportunity for me to go over my history, to review the hows and whys, and to come to new understandings about my experiences.

• Telling my story has helped me to realize that the past does not dictate the future.

• I am proud of having overcome my fears of Public Speaking.

What Family Members & Consumers say about their participation in educating officers.

• As a mom with a grown son, speaking to the officers gives me hope. It takes a village…and having officers who are aware of the manifestations of mental illness has made all the difference for my son.

• It is a nice, safe place to talk about my experiences with my son’s illness.

A final word…

• “Mentally ill people are sent to jail more often than hospital”

• USA TODAY 5/12/2010

– 3 times more likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized.

– Report just released by the Treatment Advocacy Center and the National Sheriff’s Association based on previously unpublished 2004-2005 data from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Bureau of Justice.