NAPLES, Fla. — The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Collier and the Collier County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) teamed up for a workshop on verbal deescalation in a mental health crisis.
According to Beth Hatch, CEO of NAMI Collier, one in four individuals struggle with mental health issues.
The goal of this training is to save the victims and officers from potentially dangerous encounters.
Lieutenant Leslie Weidenhammer, CCSO Behavioral Health Bureau, tells her officers, "Your safety is first, last, always, forever."
As a mental health crisis grows in Collier County, Lieutenant Weidenhammer is focused on protecting her team and her community.
"We're not always the best to handle that, right?" said Weidenhammer. "We don't always, necessarily, need to be the one that's there first."
By teaming up with NAMI Collier this week, they are teaching the officers to verbally deescalate mental crisis situations, when it's deemed safe, through a series of scenarios.
"The Collier County Jail has kind of been known as our largest mental health facility in Collier County, and that's not where it should be," said Hatch.
Lieutenant Weidenhammer says she has already put more than 1,400 officers through this nationally used program.
"Tell them your name, not that you're Corporal Smith or that you're Lieutenant Weidenhammer, but 'Hi, my name is Leslie. What's your name?'" said Weidenhammer. "Treat people the way they want to be treated with respect, care, compassion, empathy and concern."
Wednesday's training focused on deputies at the scene, but Lieutenant Weidenhammer said they are actively training employees in the call center as well.
