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Deputies on the Orange County sheriff s Behavioral Health Unit will work with clinicians from Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health.
The unit begin responding to calls this month. The goal is to de-escalate situations, arrive at peaceful resolutions, and limit arrests and Baker Acts.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is teaming deputies with mental health professionals as part of its Behavioral Health Unit pilot program.
The unit begin responding to calls this month, the sheriff’s office said Thursday. The goal is to de-escalate situations, arrive at peaceful resolutions, and limit arrests and Baker Acts.
“A mental health clinician is in a better position to help people who are in crisis,” Orange County Sheriff John W. Pina said in a video on the program released by his department. “Many times our deputies who are trained in crisis intervention, they don’t have all the tools they need to help people in a crisis.”
Thursday, December 17, 2020 by Danielle Prieur (WMFE)
Photo: Aliyah Jamous
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On average, OCSO receives 8,000 calls every year regarding mental health crises.
The new Behavioral Response Unit partners OCSO deputies with clinicians from Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health. pic.twitter.com/BVq9YKypOw
The teams of deputy’s sheriffs and mental health clinicians from Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health began responding to mental health-related calls this week.
Deputies respond first on the scene and once it is deemed safe, clinicians join them to help intervene.
Orange County deputies, mental health clinicians team up as part of new pilot program
OCSO has been working toward this new response unit for more than a year
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ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Two Orange County deputies will be partnered up with mental health clinicians to respond to mental health crisis calls as part of a new sheriff’s office pilot program called the Behavioral Response Unit.
Sheriff John Mina eluded to the idea of a new response team last week but on Thursday, the sheriff’s office revealed new details about the pilot program and what it could mean for the Orange County community.
EXETER TWP., Pa. â At its Tuesday night virtual meeting, the Exeter Township School Board adopted a resolution honoring the memory of David Bender for his 34 years of service to the board.
Bender, who died in November 2020, was a school board director from 1983 until 2017. He served as board president and vice president, as chair of numerous committees, and as a mentor to new board members over his many years of service. David was a fine gentleman, and there is no resolution that could recognize everything that he did, but I know that he certainly was an inspiration to me, and his contributions were endless, said Robert H. Quinter Jr., a past president of the school board.
EXETER TWP., Pa. â At its Tuesday night virtual meeting, the Exeter Township School Board adopted a resolution honoring the memory of David Bender for his 34 years of service to the board.
Bender, who died in November 2020, was a school board director from 1983 until 2017. He served as board president and vice president, as chair of numerous committees, and as a mentor to new board members over his many years of service. David was a fine gentleman, and there is no resolution that could recognize everything that he did, but I know that he certainly was an inspiration to me, and his contributions were endless, said Robert H. Quinter Jr., a past president of the school board.