Police/Mental Health Coordination Project

At the Police Mental Health Summit in Albany

Project members are participating in the Summit.

Project Meeting: Thursday, June 11 at 8:30 AM

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11 Agenda.pdf (342 KB)

This is the Agenda for Thursday's meeting.  We hope to see you there.

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Training Video Taping Postponed

The taping of the training video on 9.41 and 9.45 will be rescheduled soon. Watch this space for updates.

Next Meeting: June 11, 2009 8:30 AM

The next meeting of the Police/Mental Health Coordination Project is scheduled for Thursday, June 11 at 8:30 am.  The meetings are held at Crisis Services, 2969 Main Street at Hertel Avenue in Buffalo.

We hope you will attend!

Houston Crum: "Relationship Adjustment Issues for Returning War Veterans"

From Crisis Services Conference 2008:

Houston Crum is the Team Leader of the Buffalo Vet Center, the VA's specialized counseling program for returning war zone veterans and their families.  His counseling career began in 1971 as a US Army counselor at a satellite clinic of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.  He managed a drug and alcohol counseling program for the Department of the Army in Maryland before moving to Western New York in 1984.  He became a Readjustment Counselor at the Vet Center in 1990 and the Team Leader in 2001.  Since March 2003, he has worked extensively with military family support programs in the Western New York area.

Successful social, psychological, and physiological adjustment to military service in a war zone creates consequent readjustment challenges for returning war veterans. In no other area of life functioning is this readjustment difficulty more evident than relationships with family members (many of whom have themselves undergone notable changes during the deployment). 

RELATIONSHIP ADJUSTMENT ISSUES FOR RETURNING WAR VETERANS from David Mann on Vimeo.

Buffalo Veterans Court - Veteran Mentor Program Manual

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PolicyandProcedureManual-VeteransCourtMentoringProgramCS.doc (556 KB)

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Project Incident Report Forms

Use these forms to refer incidents to the Project members for the Case Review process. All reports that describe exceptional service will be reviewed at the regular Project meetings, and Crisis Services will send a letter of commendation to the agency of the individual(s) who performed the exceptional service. 

For those reports that point to problems of response, only the narrative information will be reviewed at the meetings. No identifying individual or agency information will be distributed, and any recommendations made by the Project members as a result of Case Reviews will be county-wide "best practice" suggestions, and not specific to any particular agency.

Download PMHCP incident report form 2 

Download PMHCP incident report electronic version 

Crisis Services Hosts Webinar: Law Enforcement and People with Mental Illnesses

The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare Council of State Governments Justice Center, with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, presented a webinar on 10.28.08. Tracie Bussi, Coordinator of the Outreach Program at Crisis Services, was kind enough to set up the event for members of the PMHCP.

The Webinar was based on the materials in the publication Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses: The Essential Elements of a Specialized Law Enforcement-Based Program, a report supported by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice. Written by the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Police Executive Research Forum, it highlights 10 key components for improving officers' encounters with individuals with mental illnesses.

The slides from the presentation are available, and the audio portion will be released soon. Check here for an update.

Buffalo Veterans Court on NBC's Today Show

NBC's Today Show did a piece on Buffalo City Court's Veterans Diversion Part.

Detective Jason Jaskula of the V.A. Police was interviewed in his role as one of the Court's volunteer veteran mentors. Jason has been a vital participant in the Police/Mental Health Coordination Project since the Project's Conference 2008.

Judge Robert Russell and Hank Pirowski spoke at the Conference, and have since received national recognition, along with Jack O'Connor, who runs the volunteer Veteran Mentor Group for the Court.