New referral program for mentally ill, addicted

COLUMBIA COUNTY — When law enforcement responds to a call and there’s someone on the other end who clearly is struggling with a mental health issue or battling addiction, rather than having committed a crime, in the past they haven’t always had that many options in how to handle the situation. Now, thanks to a new Mental Health Referral System, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO), in conjunction with the Columbia County Mental Health Department (CCMHD) and Greener Pathways (an outreach program of Twin County Recovery Services) has a way to help Columbia County residents access mental health and addiction services and support.

Through the referral program, Deputy Sheriffs can make a referral to CCMHD and Greener Pathways when they come across someone who appears to be in need of mental health support. According to a press release from the CCSO, “Through an online form, the Deputies can submit a referral request to the agencies [which] will then reach out to the person and offer services.”

CCSO Lt. John Rivero explained in an interview the referral program “is a direct result from the governor’s Police Reform Panel.” In fact, the group started meeting in response to the panel created by Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt Murell in response to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order for a police reform collaborative to reinvent and modernize policing. Cuomo called for police agencies statewide to submit plans updating their policing policies by April 1 or risk losing state funding.

“It’s a two-prong report, which the deputies fill out for the person with the mental health issues and another for the person with the substance abuse needs,” Rivero said. “It’s more to benefit the person in need.”

In fact, he said on the program’s first day on Jan. 27, two referrals were filled out during the very first shift, between midnight and 7 a.m. 

“We were just pleased it went off without a hitch and worked like it was supposed to,” said the lieutenant, giving an example. 

“I hesitate to call the person a suspect, but a person who is referred, one call comes to mind, a subject was found naked in the street, with an imaginary person chasing them, that person was in distress,” Rivero said. “We [referred them] to a mental facility, so that person doesn’t fall off the grid.

“This is in addition to what Deputy Sheriffs already do to supplement their current training skill set,” Rivero added. “It’s a tool in their tool bag to make sure we do everything we can to connect individuals to services to individuals in regard to substance abuse or mental health to connect to resources.”

The CCDMH’s Dan Almasi said he’s pleased with the collaboration in a press release last week.

“Right now people need support more than ever with the social isolation and other struggles that have come along with the coronavirus pandemic,” he stated.

“Emergency calls still go to the Sheriff’s Office for immediate response,” added New Lebanon town Supervisor Tistrya Houghtling. “The new program makes it possible for officers to connect people to needed services. People needing mental health and addiction services can continue to seek services by directly contacting the service agencies. [This] expands [that] access.”

The best part, said Rivero?

“It costs us nothing,” though he added that “I don’t think the intention of developing the program was to save money, I think it was to get people the help they need.”

No program quite like this one has ever been attempted in Columbia County before, noted Rivero, who said it’s likely “a hybrid of a bunch other things being done across the country,” as the issue of mental health is taken more seriously by society at large and law enforcement.

The CCSO did look at the CAHOOTS program in Eugene, Ore., “where 20% of 911 calls were diverted to mental health professionals and paramedics instead of law enforcement,” as a successful model before proposing its new referral program this January, though Rivero stressed the two programs are separate.