A mental health crisis can be one of the most unpredictable and dangerous calls for service for emergency and law enforcement personnel alike. Not to mention, these crises can take hours to resolve. At least one out of every five police service calls involve a mental health or substance abuse crisis, according to the latest research. Here in Northwest Louisiana the challenges are no different, as Susan Seeks explains, “ [The] Shreveport Fire Department, EMS, they’re all encountering people in crisis that don’t need to be taken to the emergency room, and there’s a better way.”
That better way is coming from the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, better known as CADA. Seeks serves as the agency’s chief development officer. And this week CADA was selected as Northwest Louisiana’s crisis response service provider. If requested during a crisis, CADA is called to the scene and one of their peer support specialists is allowed to come in and ask the person if they would like some help. If the answer is yes, the CADA specialist offers mental health services that are available.
On Thursday [November 2], CADA co-hosted a discussion panel and Q&A, which included members of the community, law enforcement and emergency response leaders, along with public and private counseling service agencies. The co-host of the discussion, Community Foundation of North Louisiana, also took part, helping coordinate the next steps forward for CADA. Reeks says what left the strongest impression to her involved remarks from Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith, as Reeks recited, “how long it takes on average for a Shreveport Police officer to handle a traffic accident, it’s 30 minutes. If they have to help someone in crisis, they are tied up with them for hours. And at any given time, give or take a few, there are 25 to 40 police officers covering the entire city of Shreveport.”
Typically, when police arrive on the scene of a mental health crisis, Reeks says officers have limited options. That’s why she is so encouraged by the news delivered by Captain John May with the Caddo Sheriff’s office. Seeks recalled Capt. May saying “they have been doing extensive crisis training, they call it CIT train. And their officers are being trained on how to recognize what a mental health crisis looks like.”
There’s also a crisis response line at: 318-222-8511.
