Like a good neighbor

David Johnson, Bert Nash CEO, along with Sgt. Trent McKinley, public affairs officer for the Lawrence Police Department, attended a Pinckney Neighborhood Association meeting May 19 to address issues that affect area residents. Concerns about crime and safety were raised in a March 15th letter to the editor and a subsequent news story.

Association president Pat Gillespie Miller said the neighborhood group has a good working relationship with both Bert Nash and the Lawrence Police Department.

“We’ve had really good communication with them,” she said.

The Bert Nash Community Mental Center, 200 Maine St., is located in the Pinckney neighborhood, which geographically is bounded by the Kaw River on the east, Interstate 70 on the north, Iowa Street/McDonald Drive on the west and Sixth Street on the south. There are about 1,500 households in the area.

“We want to be a good neighbor,” Johnson told area residents who attended the neighborhood association meeting, which was attended by about 15 people.

Johnson addressed the issue of people camping in the area, which was raised in the news story.

“We’ve got a pretty aggressive homeless outreach program, and what we’ve found is we don’t have any evidence of anybody camping overnight in the area in anticipation of an appointment,” Johnson said.

McKinley agreed, saying, “When people camp in the area it’s because they want access to downtown, not because they want access to Bert Nash.”

As far as safety concerns, people with mental health issues typically are not violent, Johnson added.

“Generally, the people we work with are less likely than the general public to commit a crime,” the Bert Nash CEO said. “But there is a high possibility they will be victims of crime. They are just a vulnerable population. What that means is they tend to try and lay low, as opposed to being out there trying to create attention that would be brought to themselves.”

After the letter to the editor appeared in the newspaper, McKinley said there was a review of crime reports in the area. “We looked at statistics, and we’re not seeing an increase in crime in the Pinckney Neighborhood,” McKinley said.

described in the letter? Yes. We run mental health calls every single day.” 

Johnson and McKinley said cooperation between Bert Nash and the police department was important in responding to mental health calls.

“We have a very open line of communication,” McKinley said. “It’s a good partnership.”

“It’s not every community where the mental health center and the police department consider themselves partners,” Johnson said. “This is a community that does. That extends to the sheriff’s department, too, and the courts. The community expects us to be partners.”

Johnson noted that Lawrence Police Department personnel have received training in Mental Health First Aid, an eight-hour training course that teaches how to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. The national training program helps people identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness. Bert Nash was one of seven pilot sites in 2008 chosen to teach Mental Health First Aid. More than 1,000 people in Douglas County have been trained.

“We felt it was important to have all police department staff members trained, not just the police officers on the street. Our animal control officers, parking control officers and office staff all have contact with members of our community and therefore have opportunities to use the information,” McKinley said. “It’s been very beneficial.”

For information about Mental Health First Aid or Youth Mental Health First Aid, visit bertnash.org.