Looking for stories!

NAMI has received the following message from a local reporter:

My name is Michael Vitez, and I ‘m a staff writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer. My assignment is to write about the uninsured and underinsured, to illustrate the problems with our health care system. I want to write powerful and compassionate human interest stories about people who can't get, or can't afford, the mental health services they need. I’m looking for stories of people who are being harmed, or denied, or cut off – who just can’t get or afford care and services they critically need.

I can promise you that I will be sensitive. I am a 1997 Pulitzer Prize winner and I specialize in human interest. I've recently written a long story for the Inquirer about Jordan Burnham, the Upper Merion high student who jumped out his ninth floor window in a suicide attempt: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/gallery/13908626.html

And following that, I wrote another story about John Gallagher and his coming to terms with his depression and suicide attempt. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/16889486.html

I you have stories to share, I'd love to hear them.

Michael Vitez

215-854-5639

mvitez@phillynews.com

NAMI Surveys Members

NAMI Survey Link

We have developed a questionnaire which we hope you will take a few moments to complete. We want to know what we do that works, what needs to be improved and what more we can do. Families and mental health consumers need information and support and we try to meet these needs through our educational programs, our monthly meetings, our workshops, our website and our support groups.

Follow this link to take the survey.

NAMI Survey Link

CIT on Campus

College and university campuses around the country are embracing CIT as a way to better serve students experiencing a crisis, integrate their services with the broader community, and maintain campus safety. We spoke with law enforcement agencies on several campuses to learn more about the unique opportunities and challenges faced by CIT programs on campus.

The campus environment is unique because young people on campus are at an age when the onset of mental illness often occurs, and the stress of the transition to college life can often trigger depression or other mental illnesses. When a crisis occurs, CIT can help officers respond effectively: Leslie Wiete, Patrol Sergeant at Purdue University says, “CIT gives me the tools I need to deal with suicidal students, and taught me how to ask the right questions.”

At the same time, campuses may be an ideal environment for CIT because they already have in place some of the collaborations necessary for CIT to succeed. Alan Gutierrez, chief of police at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, told us that CIT was a natural fit for their campus: campus police had been holding monthly meetings with the Dean of Students office, the counseling service and other campus offices, to collaborate on campus safety issues. After introducing CIT, they found these monthly meetings a useful way to ensure that the whole campus community collaborated to make CIT work.

Gutierrez also pointed out that collaboration with off-campus groups is a priority; the university is part of a broader community, and Gutierrez would like to bring CIT to neighboring law enforcement agencies so that students and community members will have the benefits of CIT whether they are on or off campus. Finally, campus police forces are often specifically interested in community policing, which uses proactive strategies to prevent crime. Since CIT helps officers intervene safely and effectively in a crisis, it may help campuses prevent crime and incarceration.

While the opportunities and challenges of a campus CIT program may be unique, officers emphasize that the benefits of a CIT program are similar whether it’s located on or off campus. Campus law enforcement agencies are building the same kind of collaborations and using the same strategies as other law enforcement agencies. Officers emphasize the importance of relationships with NAMI, the mental health community and other law enforcement agencies to initiating and maintaining CIT. They praise the Memphis CIT model as a way to introduce the concept of CIT. At Radford University, in Virginia, Lt. Micheal Baker recommends sending an officer with some decision-making authority to Memphis to be trained on the fundamentals of CIT. At the University of Missouri- St. Louis, Sgt. JT Thompson recommends selecting officers for CIT training based on their temperament and interest in helping someone in crisis.

We are encouraged to hear about campus communities embracing CIT, and would like to learn about other campus CIT programs. To comment, email laurau@nami.org. To learn more, you can contact any of the officers mentioned in this story. To contact Sgt. Wiete at Purdue University, call 765-494-8221. To contact Chief Gutierrez at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, call 361-825-6002. To contact Lt. Baker at Radford, call 540-831-5867. To contact Sgt. Thompson at the University of Missouri, call 314-226-5532.

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