Fifty-two local law enforcement officers attended training throughout the past couple weeks to learn about mental health disorders and how to better interact with citizens with disorders.
“Often, deputies and corrections officers are the first to see and deal with people affected by mental health issues,” Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza said in a press release.
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office and Cascade Mental Health partnered together to provide mental health first aid training to the officers from the sheriff’s office as well as other agencies in Lewis County.
The goal of the training was to help officers understand different mental health disorders, how to best engage with people with disorders in the field and how to get resources for them.
“Law enforcement has a tough job of needed to enforce laws, yet apply basic understanding of mental health disorders to specific situations so they can try to seek appropriate resources to help people,” Snaza said.
Corrections Bureau Chief Kevin Hanson said in the release that the Lewis County Jail and Cascade have recently strengthened programs previously in place to ensure the best outcome for inmates affected by mental health disorders.
“We are addressing mental health issues in the jail in a progressive manner and to the best of our ability with the resources we have been given,” Hanson said.
Jessica L. Stickley, with Cascade, noted in a letter to the sheriff’s office that before the training she had witnessed sheriff’s office deputies interact to people with mental health disorders with compassion, empathy and patience.
“Each of the officers introduced themselves to the individual and did a great job of explaining their role and expressing their concern for his wellbeing,” Stickley wrote in the letter, referring to a specific incident in January.
