Quinn Berry, MS, LPC, CACD-I, owner of Wallowa Health Services and Brandon Miller, CSWA, CADC-I, Wallowa Valley Center for Wellness Mental Health Therapist, Crisis Coordinator, and CIT Coordinator discuss:

• Establishing a CIT program in a small community presents unique challenges, but also better opportunities for connections and trusting relationships between community partners. Building those relationships outside of the crisis situations pays dividends when the next crisis occurs.
• Interactions with community members in a small community are different, as there will be ongoing interactions with the same individuals. Every call is somebody you know.
• The CIT program is working to change the culture of first responders, moving away from the underlying belief that the expectation is to “toughen up and keep going.” Part of the local culture shift has involved the Fire Department. They have had regular debriefing sessions at the Fire Hall with a culturally competent counselor in order to process events and improve overall wellness. How having a background as law enforcement officers helps to make them more culturally competent mental health providers for first responders.
• Promoting education such as Law Enforcement 101 for mental health clinicians helps to build relationships within CIT programs, as it broadens understanding of different perspectives.
• Recognizing that Law Enforcement is part of the public health apparatus, as most community policing responses are service-related. 
• Experiencing a different order of magnitude of events makes it difficult to relate to others outside the profession, which impacts resiliency. Defining what resilience is and what it means for first responders. 

For more information about the intersection between criminal justice and behavioral health in Oregon, please reach out to us through our website at http://www.ocbhji.org/podcast and Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OCBHJI/. We’d love to hear from you.

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