Last night, I am proud to say, the Lansdale Public Safety Committee approved and moved to full council a proposed contract with Merakey Behavioral Health to provide staffing for a dedicated Lansdale Police mental health co-responder funded by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency Grant Program. Should this program be approved by council, Lansdale will be one of the first communities in Montgomery County to initiate a dedicated mental health contracted service for a police department.
The launch of this co-responder program is a first step in shifting the way our community helps manage and improve mental health for everyone. The program will provide behavioral health intervention, de-escalation resources, and referrals to ongoing care while reducing unnecessary use of our 911 dispatch system. On average, our police department handles approximately six to seven mental health calls per week and spans from suicidal ideations and attempts to mental health issues related to drug abuse.
Once the contract is approved, Merakey will be responsible for hiring a full-time clinician to be housed within Lansdale Police while Merakey will maintain all the managerial responsibility for the co-responder. The expectation is that the clinician will respond alongside officers to those calls where a mental health or substance abuse event is occurring, and their aid is necessary.
After an event occurs, the hired clinician will conduct proactive outreach to residents and community members who may need continued assistance in the hopes of maintaining an open dialogue with them to help avoid future emergency events. In addition, this person will assist in the operation of our North Penn HUB program, which works with multiple community service and mental health organizations to coordinate proactive outreach to improve life across our area.
I cannot express enough how important this role will be to our community. Several years ago, Councilwomen Meg Currie Teoh, Chief Mike Trail, and I discussed the potential of creating a program like this in the hopes of efficiently improving the outcome of mental health calls in our community. At that time, the idea of co-response was just beginning to percolate through some of the largest police departments in the nation.
The early results, from across the country, were a resounding success. Residents and police departments were seeing dramatic improvements in the lives of those who were regularly in need of assistance. Most importantly, through proactive engagement, it creates the opportunity to get ahead of an existing challenge for a family or a resident before it becomes an emergency event.
We are hoping for the same here in Lansdale. By developing this program, we are committing ourselves to proactively engaging in helping those with mental health challenges while also being fully prepared for an emergency event that may require specific clinician skills that officers simply do not have resulting in a better and safer outcome for all.
I would like to thank Councilwomen Teoh, and all the Public Safety Committee members, for their dedication and partnership on this effort. Should this contract be approved by council later this month I strongly believe this program will help us build a safer community for all that is helping to keep all of us moving forward together.
(Mayoral Musings is a weekly op-ed column submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Lansdale Borough Mayor Garry Herbert. The views expressed are his own and not representative of North Penn Now or Lansdale Borough.)
See also:
Mayoral Musings: Pride Month 2023
Mayoral Musings: Citizen Police Academy
Mayoral Musings: Remember to Vote Today!
Mayoral Musings: New Block Party Rules for Lansdale
Mayoral Musings: Lansdale’s 2023 Events Season is Upon Us
