Police need training in mental health
Re: Fix police culture, but repair the system, July 26
Young, T. (2014). Toronto Star. Retrieved from: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2014/07/28/police_need_training_in_mental_health.html#
As a registered social
worker I find Royson James’ statements that “cops are social workers,
with guns” offensive and ill-informed. Police are not “de facto” social
workers and they never will be.
While police officers
have become first responders in the crisis of under-resourced services
for those suffering from mental illness, social workers play a very,
very different role in the lives of people in need of support, and in
society, than police officers.
Social workers have a distinct education, professional knowledge base and skillset, which enables us to provide care and support to the most vulnerable people in society, by working in collaboration with clients, and others toward positive change.
Police officers’ role is to keep the peace, to serve and protect and ensure that individuals who have committed potential offenses under the Criminal Code of Canada are dealt with in a fair and just manner.
If police officers involved in the Sammy Yatim case had even an iota of the education and training social workers receive, a sick and fragile young man would be alive today and a family would not be mourning the tragic loss of their loved one.
One of the lessons of this tragedy is that Toronto police officers, and those across Canada, require training in mental health and how to deal with individuals in acute mental health crisis.
As the social safety net, including mental health systems of care, continues to be ripped apart in Canada due to a lack of governmental vision and leadership and underfunding, police officers will continue to be the first responders in the mental health crisis gripping cities.
As a social worker, I call on law enforcement leaders in Toronto, and across Canada, to begin to find ways to educate, inform and provide police officers with the tools they need to become more effective and humane in working with individuals who are experiencing severe mental health challenges. This kind of training will not only lead to some degree of culture change, I suspect it will also provide increased awareness of the mental health issues that many law enforcement officers suffer from due to the nature of their work.
This may also lead to the kind of culture change that must occur within the policing culture of Canada so those who serve and protect receive the mental health support and help they require to prevent other tragedies from happening.
Tracey Young, Vancouver
*****************************************
Read the original article I responded to here.
Social workers have a distinct education, professional knowledge base and skillset, which enables us to provide care and support to the most vulnerable people in society, by working in collaboration with clients, and others toward positive change.
Police officers’ role is to keep the peace, to serve and protect and ensure that individuals who have committed potential offenses under the Criminal Code of Canada are dealt with in a fair and just manner.
If police officers involved in the Sammy Yatim case had even an iota of the education and training social workers receive, a sick and fragile young man would be alive today and a family would not be mourning the tragic loss of their loved one.
One of the lessons of this tragedy is that Toronto police officers, and those across Canada, require training in mental health and how to deal with individuals in acute mental health crisis.
As the social safety net, including mental health systems of care, continues to be ripped apart in Canada due to a lack of governmental vision and leadership and underfunding, police officers will continue to be the first responders in the mental health crisis gripping cities.
As a social worker, I call on law enforcement leaders in Toronto, and across Canada, to begin to find ways to educate, inform and provide police officers with the tools they need to become more effective and humane in working with individuals who are experiencing severe mental health challenges. This kind of training will not only lead to some degree of culture change, I suspect it will also provide increased awareness of the mental health issues that many law enforcement officers suffer from due to the nature of their work.
This may also lead to the kind of culture change that must occur within the policing culture of Canada so those who serve and protect receive the mental health support and help they require to prevent other tragedies from happening.
Tracey Young, Vancouver
*****************************************
Read the original article I responded to here.
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