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Faith group wants change to police handling of mental health emergencies in South Bend area

South Bend Tribune - 5/17/2021

May 17—SOUTH BEND — The South Bend area could soon get a mobile response unit and crisis response center to assist those dealing with mental health emergencies and potentially replace the police's involvement in such crises.

The leaders of the city of South Bend, the sheriff's department and the St. Joseph County Commission came out Sunday saying they all support a faith group's call to use some of the federal American Recovery Act money the city and county receives for this kind of enhanced mental health services for residents here.

Faith In Indiana St. Joseph County hosted a "We Make The Future" town hall at Potawatomi Park'sChris Wilson Pavilion on Sunday to explain the organization's work with political leaders, law enforcement, county health officials and the mental health community to find alternatives to using police to deal with people having mental health crises.

When the COVID-19 pandemic put strain on local budgets, city and county governments received money from the President Joe Biden administration's American Rescue Plan, and Faith In Indiana wants at least 10% of the dollars going to the county and the cities of South Bend and Mishawaka to be used to pay for a mobile response unit and crisis response center.

According to Jeff Walker of the Beacon Resource Center, St. Joseph County received $52 million in ARP funds, South Bend received $63 million and Mishawaka got $12 million. That means, the mental health mobile response unit and the crisis response center would receive $12.5 million if funded at the 10% level.

Local leaders who spoke at the town hall all said that they support devoting more resources to mental health, although the levels of funding are among the things that have to be worked out.

St. Joseph County Sheriff William Redman said that he has been committed to doing more to address the mental health needs of those incarcerated in the jail and doing more to prevent the jail from being the mental health treatment center of last resort.

"I have been working with Faith In Indiana for a while about a mobile response team," Redman said.

He has assigned a sergeant to work on addressing the mental health needs of inmates and to find alternatives for those with mental health needs.

"I'm looking at utilizing another social worker to work with (the sergeant) to respond to the mental health calls, so we are sort of taking small steps already," Redman said.

Andy Kostielney, president of St. Joseph County Commissioners, said that while he can't commit to a specific dollar amount, the commission wants to do more to help vulnerable populations.

"Just like we spent money on access to housing and trying to address the homeless issue with a low intake housing facility — that's part of it," he said. "And also working with the health department and the sheriff to put together what they need for a mobile crisis intervention unit and also a facility."

Kostielney said that he, Redman and Dr. Robert Einterz, the county's health officer, have been talking about how to move forward on the issue of mental health services and that such an effort will likely involve collaborations with local health care facilities and higher education partners like the Indiana University School of Medicine in South Bend.

South Bend Mayor James Mueller said he has not seen any proposal from Faith In Indiana, but he's among those committed to working together to see what can be done.

Einterz and Laurie Nafziger, CEO of Oaklawn Psychiatric Center, also spoke in support of the mobile unit and crisis response center.

Rebekah Go of Faith In Indiana said that hearing officials publicly commit to expanding mental health services is a major step forward.

Sunday's town hall also included testimonials from two local clergy members who talked about the county's lacking mental health safety net that often means police respond to calls when family members have mental health crises.

Rev. J. B. Williams, pastor of Abundant Faith Family Ministry, said that his brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Williams said that police would take his brother to jail when his condition caused him to do things like trespass.

While police dealt with his brother in a professional manner and didn't harm him, Williams said that those arrests were traumatic for his mother, who advocated for her son.

"He shouldn't have been incarcerated, but he should have been placed in a treatment center of some type," he said.

The Rev. Keith Walatka, pastor of Riverside Church, said that he's called 911 six times in the last two years after a family member had a mental health crisis.

"All six times officers were sent to our home," he said. "They were very professional, responsive and helpful, but they weren't equipped for the mental health situation

"They said 'we're law enforcement, we're not equipped for this,' and I can't help but think how much better it would have been for my family member to have a mobile crisis team come to our house."

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