APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – A clinical therapist has been embedded into the Appleton Police Department to better serve the needs of the community.
The Clinical Therapist position is the first of its kind at the department and is designed to improve the way providers can deliver critical services to a person in crisis.
“Embedding a clinical therapist into the department allows that therapist to go out to calls with patrol officers when we encounter people in crisis,” said Lieutenant Meghan Cash. “Our hope is that we’ll be able to address some of the mental health services in law enforcement and guide those interactions to have less involvement with law enforcement and really get people the resources that they need.”
Sarah Peterson, MSW, LCSW, has worked for the past three years at Outagamie County Crisis as a Clinical Therapist. Sarah will respond with patrol officers as part of the newly developed Community Crisis Response Team.
“The Community Crisis Response Team’s primary mission is to just help community members access the appropriate level of care,” Cash told WTAQ News. “We’re able to divert some of the calls that typically take law enforcement’s role that sometimes provides more trauma to the people in crisis, and we’re able to provide them resources quicker and the ability to really give them better care within our community…So a person is in a mental health crisis, law enforcement responds, and it might not be necessary for that person to go to the hospital or be placed in any sort of environment. It may just be a matter of having somebody to connect them with.”
“The challenge and complexity of mental health issues in our community is growing and is at a critical stage,” said Appleton Police Chief Todd Thomas. “The collaboration and partnership of all the service providers, with substantial input from those with lived experiences, will make a monumental improvement in how we provide safe services to people in crisis.”
Cash says the program addresses gaps the department hasn’t served in the past, and aims to address the core issues occurring within the mental health gaps in the community.
Meanwhile, Peterson has already been out in the field. The team officially launched this week, but a soft launch of the pilot program began in January.
“She is actively working with officers, has been, and has approximately 40 contacts already with folks in our community that’ve needed help,” Cash said. “We’re seeing it already have an impact and we’re just so excited to see this grow.”
The police department’s clinical therapist is supported by the NEW Mental Health Connection, as well as the financially supported by the city, Outagamie County, and local funders, United Way Fox Cities and the Bright Ideas Fund at the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region.
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