Mental Health Archives

Police Chief Magazine|Topics|Mental Health

Officer having a friendly conversation with a civilian woman.

Social Workers Embedded in Law Enforcement

Homelessness. Mental illness. Substance use disorders. Law enforcement officers are routinely responding to calls in the community related to these three issues, and they are expected to have instant ...

Education & Training

Changing Law Enforcement Culture One Deputy at a Time with LASD-CIT: Is that Crisis Intervention Training or Changing Inherent Thinking? Or Both?

Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) is a model law enforcement mental health collaboration program that is believed to benefit patrol personnel in their encounters with individuals experiencing a psych...

Community-Police Engagement

Mental Illness and Homelessness: How Suburban Cities Can Reduce the Impacts on Their Communities

One need only look to recent media reports to see examples of negative encounters between law enforcement and individuals with mental illness who are experiencing homelessness. For example, a man expe...

President's Message

President’s Message: Contributing to Healthy Communities through the One Mind Campaign

A healthy community requires hard work and a concerted effort by all stakeholders—governing bodies; medical partners; faith communities; community and nonprofit groups; and, of course, law enforcem...

Mental Health

Supporting Those With Mental Illness: Rethinking the Approach to a Vulnerable Population

The communities in which police officers work encompass a multitude of individuals with different ages, genders, incomes, races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, abilities, health statuses...

Officer Safety & Wellness

Humanizing the Stress of Policing: A Non-Diagnostic Approach to Teaching Stress Resilience

Experiential learning in life is an asset that needs recognition as a vital part of training in individuals’ resilience to stress. Similar to the characters in a computer game where experiences resu...

Mental Health

Use of Deadly Force: Multiple Explanations, No Simple Solutions

The death of Michael Brown in 2014 and subsequent high-profile officer-involved shootings have prompted police departments across the United States to evaluate their use of force and deadly force poli...

Mental Health

When Less (Force) Is More: De-escalation Strategies to Achieve Officer Objectives and Simultaneously Reduce the Use of Force

There is much talk among law enforcement officers about de-escalation and use of force—methods, appropriate use, and risk analysis. Although each officer needs to follow his or her training, individ...