As Others Cut Back, California County Bolsters Mental Health Services

May 12--STOCKTON -- When confronted with a child or adult experiencing a psychiatric meltdown, becoming suicidal or uncontrollably violent, most people would expect appropriate help to be just a phone call away. But not all first responders are equipped to deal with a person in crisis.

San Joaquin County recently got a major boost to its arsenal of resources necessary to both react to a mental health crisis and provide enhanced treatment options.

"We think we were ahead of the curve," said Vic Singh, director of the county's Behavioral Health Services agency. "During the economic downturn, a lot of counties reduced or ceased altogether their crisis residential program."

Singh said that is not the case locally.

There are 37 crisis residential beds available in San Joaquin County, while some counties have none. A crisis residential program provides 30 days in a community home with intense supervision and is always accompanied by treatment, he said.

For shorter periods of time, Singh said, "As part of the mix, we wanted to increase our crisis stabilization beds -- these are 23-hour beds. We opened our own crisis stabilization unit 2 1/2 years ago."

This month, the county was awarded a $2.5 million state grant to cover the costs of two more voluntary crisis stabilization units consisting of four adult beds and four youth beds. Once operating next year, it will double the county's capacity. Funds will be used for construction and equipment.

Crisis stabilization provides urgent care for individuals whose psychiatric symptoms may be stabilized in less than 24 hours without unnecessary hospitalization, which saves a considerable amount of money in the long run.

The grant also will pay for three mobile crisis support teams, a significant increase to the one team now operating 40 hours a week. The funds will be used for staffing and specialized vehicles.

The mobile crisis support teams will operate seven days a week with day and evening hours, responding to calls from law enforcement, hospital emergency rooms and other first responders, with one of the teams emphasizing response to teenagers. The teams will be stationed in and dispatched from strategic locations throughout the county.

For example, the youth team that anticipates dealing with a lot of foster children might be housed at Mary Graham Children's Center in French Camp, but it will be equipped to travel anywhere in the county.

An additional $500,000 per year for the next two years on top of the initial grant will cover the staffing costs for the mobile crisis teams.

"This builds on what we have established and what we know already works," said Jean Anderson, assistant director of Behavioral Health.

Law enforcement, often first on the scene for an incident involving a person in mental distress, applauded the new support teams that should be up and running by September.

"There is just one mobile unit now available countywide, so we are looking forward to the program expanding and having the resources available to us. This will help us volumes in the future," said Deputy Les Garcia, spokesman for the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office.

Stockton Police Department spokesman Officer Joe Silva agreed, noting additional mental health teams "to help our officers in the field would be of great assistance in obtaining healthy and peaceful resolutions."

Both agencies are among those that send their officers to county-sponsored crisis intervention training, eight hours of instruction above and beyond their basic mental health training. The eight-hour course is certified by POST, the statewide Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. POST also offers a 40-hour certification.

"Last year, we sent 35 of our officers to that course. Since last year, we have also created mental health liaison officer positions. We now have three officers serving in this role as a resource for all officers within the department," Silva said.

"During the past six months, these officers have been sent to training that other agencies have put on," Silva said, noting that in March during the department's annual Sergeants Workshop, the sergeants in attendance were addressed by staff from county Behavioral Health Services and St. Joseph's Behavioral Health Center, a private, stand-alone Stockton hospital that provides outpatient services and 35 inpatient beds for those with psychiatric and chemical dependency disorders.

A recent case in Lodi adds weight to the importance of such teams.

In January, a woman called Lodi police to report her brother-in-law, Parminder Singh Shergill, 43, was schizophrenic, "going crazy" and "attacking" his mother in the family home. Officers responded, with tragic results. Shergill was shot and killed by the officers in a nearby park.

The city said Shergill had a knife and was heading toward officers, refusing their orders to stop and drop the weapon. Family members have filed a civil rights lawsuit, claiming wrongful death and excessive force and maintaining he would not have hurt anyone.

There might not have been time for a mental health stabilization team to be called in for intervention in this case, and even so, the police control the situation, according to Behavioral Health Services officials.

"Even if we get a call from a citizen, we'll call law enforcement, and law enforcement always takes the lead. Law enforcement makes the call," said Jim Garrett, deputy director for 24-hour services.

Contact reporter Joe Goldeen at (209) 546-8278 or jgoldeen@recordnet.com. Follow him at www.recordnet.com/goldeenblog and on Twitter @JoeGoldeen.

Copyright 2014 - The Record, Stockton, Calif.