Piscataquis crisis team gets national notice

DOVER-FOXCROFT – The work of a crisis intervention team operating in the Penquis region has caught the attention and interest of national leaders.

Representatives of the Piscataquis Regional Crisis Intervention Team have been invited to speak about the team’s unique approach in psychiatric emergencies at the First National Conference in Crisis Intervention Teams on May 11-12 in Columbus, Ohio.

“It’s a real honor to be asked to participate in the conference and to be accepted for the unique approach that we have in this very rural area,” Richard Brown, chief executive officer of the Charlotte White Center, said Friday. The center is a nonprofit agency devoted to assisting mentally and physically handicapped people.

Brown was behind the formation of the unique team that consists of local law enforcement officers, hospital personnel and mental health and counseling officials.

The collaboration of the team members from various agencies and departments is what makes the team unique in its ability to intervene in dangerous situations.

“It emerged primarily as a way to help train law enforcement officers to de-escalate life-threatening encounters and stressful situations,” Brown said.

Before that, law enforcement and emergency personnel had to wait long hours for a team to arrive from other parts of the state. The delay in defusing potentially violent situations involving people with mental illness bothered Brown, who solicited support from local emergency providers.

Signing on to the formation of a local team were the Brownville, Milo, Dover-Foxcroft and Greenville police departments, Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department, Community Health and Counseling Services, the National Alliance for Mental Illness, Piscataquis County commissioners and the Charlotte White Center.

Training funds came from a $23,000 Maine Justice Assistance Council Drug Control, Violence Prevention and System Improvement grant. A similar grant received this year will fund another round of training for more individuals.

“To my knowledge, there are no CIT models using this wide collaboration of players,” Brown said.

The local team has intervened in about 50 situations since its inception, according to Brown. He said it was “so powerful” to hear graduates of the first training describe how effective they feel with their new skills.

“They really have a much greater comfort level with talking people down and de-escalating threatening situations,” he said.

“I think it’s a feather in the cap of Piscataquis County to be recognized nationally as a leader in a unique approach to working with people who are facing mental health challenges in a crisis situation,” Brown said.