One CT City Makes Emergency Mental Health Calls a Priority / Public News Service publicnewsservice.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from publicnewsservice.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
New London Jeanne Milstein, the city’s Human Services Director, says a $200,000 boost in funding in the mayor’s proposed budget could reduce the number of mental-health-related calls to police.
She is developing a plan for a Peer Navigator program and looking to hire at least three people “with lived mental health experience” to perform follow-up work with individuals with mental health issues who find themselves dealing with police officers.
About 40% of police calls for service in the city are mental health related and Milstein said the program could reduce that number and curtail repeat calls from certain individuals. Navigators would work with individuals to get treatment, housing, jobs or whatever it is that had initially prompted a situation that ended with a call to police.
The peer navigators would be people with lived mental health experience. After someone in the city experiences a mental health crisis and calls police, a navigator would automatically follow up with that person.
“Working with the individual to get treatment, working with the individual to help get housing and jobs. It is a very holistic approach, said Milstein.
The city does have structures in place to respond to mental health crises already. About 30% of NLPD officers have received crisis intervention training, according to the city. The police department also works with social workers.
“We have crisis mental health workers right now that are available, but addressing a crisis does not address the underlying issue, said Milstein.
Connecticut City Works Toward Offering Free Internet Access
New London, Conn., is working to finalize a project to extend free Internet access to hundreds of households within the city, targeting those who are without the means to afford access on their own. by Greg Smith, The Day / April 14, 2021 Shutterstock/Breitformat
(TNS) The city is working to finalize a project to extend free internet access to hundreds of
New London homes, targeting those without the means to afford access on their own.
Mayor
Susan Bysiewicz
, who visited the city to promote Gov.
Ned Lamont s
House Bill 6442, An Act Concerning Equitable Access to Broadband.
New London The city is working to finalize a project to extend free internet access to hundreds of New London homes, targeting those without the means to afford access on their own.
Mayor Michael Passero outlined those plans during a news conference Tuesday with Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, who visited the city to promote Gov. Ned Lamont’s House Bill 6442, An Act Concerning Equitable Access to Broadband.
New London’s own plan involves a partnership with the Connecticut Education Network to use the schools and city-owned buildings to broadcast Wi-Fi hot spots and reach nearby homes.
Initially, the plan will include installation of transmitters to cover a two- to three-block radius around city schools as well as the densely populated Huntington Tower and Winthrop Square apartment complexes. The first phase may reach a portion of the Mohican Apartments on State Street.