Mental Health Training for Law Enforcement and Clinical Staff Meeting

On Tuesday, August 21, 2018 Law enforcement leaders from Local, County and State Agencies along with representatives from NAMI NH The National Alliance on Mental Illness, New Hampshire Health and Human Services and New Hampshire Police Standards and Training Council met at the Primex facility in Concord, NH. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the feasibility of creating geographically centralized enhanced mental health training for all NH law enforcement personnel.

Discussions included developing a single Crisis Intervention Training curriculum centrally located in Concord. This concept would allow all New Hampshire law enforcement agencies to send one or more officers to the training easing the burden on only one host agency as many agencies would contribute to facilitating the 40- hour training.

Other discussions included developing an 8 hour monthly mental health training and resource familiarization program for law enforcement and community clinicians in Concord. This collaborative, unified approach to mental health training may be a first of its kind in New Hampshire. The training would be held in Concord and could include tours of state and private facilities directly involved in the treatment of mental illness, classes with clinical and police mental health subject matter experts and community resource groups associated with mental illness treatment and response. These speakers would serve to educate both police and clinical staff in available mental health resources within New Hampshire.Other discussions included developing an 8 hour monthly mental health training and resource familiarization program for law enforcement and community clinicians in Concord. This collaborative, unified approach to mental health training may be a first of its kind in New Hampshire. The training would be held in Concord and could include tours of state and private facilities directly involved in the treatment of mental illness, classes with clinical and police mental health subject matter experts and community resource groups associated with mental illness treatment and response. These speakers would serve to educate both police and clinical staff in available mental health resources within New Hampshire.

On-going meetings will continue with law enforcement and the mental health community to identify training resources and potential curriculums for this joint training effort.