Sussex County has by now received two hours of training on responding to a mental health crisis and understanding the cipher and symptoms of mental illness. This training is provided by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of New Jersey and includes a 25-minute video produced by the organization entitled “The Community I Serve.”
Municipal police officers were also given an hour of training about compulsion as a progressive and treatable illness. They learned about the progression of addiction, and were given resources to call upon for those affected and their families and loved ones.
Each officer was given a resource card with phone numbers of the many mental health and substance mistreatment services available in Sussex County. The officers have been asked to use the card as a source of referral information for families struggling to find help for their loved ones with mental illness and/or addictions.
The program has been brought to the county through the combined hard work of the Sussex County Prosecutor’s office, Newton Memorial Hospital’s Department of Psychiatric Emergency Services, the county Mental Health Advisory Board, the Sussex County Division of Community and Youth Services, Saint Clare’s Intensive Family Support Services and the Sussex County affiliate of NAMI.
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