We Need Trained People to Deal with Mental Health Breaks
By: Sam H Arnold
Tags: Ideas, Equality, Services, Mental Health, Diversity

Recently I was researching a post on Black Americans killed by police. Some of the individual stories that resonated with me, were the victims who suffered from mental health issues.

This is not a problem associated with just the American police, British police are no different. Five years ago I worked with a young lady with mental health issues. As with many of these people she was self-medicating with alcohol. During a mental health break, she had been drinking and was hiding in a bush keeping away from people. The police approached her and because it was dark they shone their lights in her face. She states she couldn’t see it was the police because the light was in her eyes. They asked her to get out of the bush and she refused. They then pepper-sprayed her in the face and dragged her out. She was scared still not realising it was the police who had her.

They arrested her and put her in a cell to sober up before they interviewed her. When I went to meet her the next morning to be her appropriate adult, what I saw shook me. She was black down both arms and legs. There were no gaps between her bruises, she had been brutalised. This was not only my opinion but that of the nurse I took her to after. When the case was investigated by the police complaints commission, it will not surprise anyone that it was thrown out. No case to answer.

Mental health services are at breaking point.

In Britain, mental health services are at breaking point. Too few people are diagnosed and offered the support they need to function. With these services cut, the pressure is placed on the police and ambulance service.

If services were available, we wouldn’t need untrained personnel dealing with these individuals. A trained person would know what to do. Instead of arresting my young lady, they would have spoken to her, calmed her down and tried to move her to a safe location. They could have kept her safe, without arresting her.

What we need is a fourth service dedicated to mental health. If a person is experiencing a break, these could be the first call. I understand some may be dangerous and require the police. A service to assess this initially would help. A group to respond to non-violent cases.

All countries could use this service.

America is no different they could also use this service. When we look at the case of Daniel Prude this is evident. Prude was a 41-year old who during a mental health break ran into the road naked. He became agitated when the officer put a spit hood on his head. To calm him he was placed on the floor. The officers full weight was forced on his head, he died after being asphyxiated.

Anna Rosser would have also benefitted from this intervention. She was shot dead when police entered her house and she was holding a knife. Her boyfriend unable to cope with her mental health break had dialled 911.

All citizens deserve equal treatment regardless of colour, gender or mental health. If as a species we cannot employ this service the least we can do it admit there is a problem. Train the existing staff in mental health. Having worked with mental health for twenty years, I would volunteer an evening a week to work this service.

Mental health is on the rise across the world. The state of life at present does nothing to help this. A quarter of the United Kingdom suffers from their mental health. Other countries have similar statistics. It is time we represented this percentage fairly and gives them access to trained help.