Webinars

Webinars

Webinar 1: Starting Your Pre-Arrest Diversion (PAD) Effort: Law Enforcement, Behavioral Health, and Community Together

Police officers consistently encounter the criminal and non-criminal impacts of drug use and mental illness: disruptive behavior, overdoses, homelessness. Providing treatment and behavioral health services is not part of the traditional core mission of law enforcement, but some law enforcement agencies across the nation are launching innovative PAD programs that rely on partnerships with community-based organizations to create pathways to behavioral health, housing, and other social supports, so that individuals can get the services they need. These programs are experiencing promising results: crime reduction, improved community-police relations, reduction of the treatment burden on the justice system, restored lives and families, and jurisdictional cost savings.

This webinar:

  • Provides a national overview of PAD
  • Describes the five primary models currently in practice
  • Covers the eight questions to be asked prior to starting your jurisdiction’s PAD initiative
  • Shares key tips for establishing and maintaining partnerships between law enforcement and behavioral health and social service providers
  • Introduces the Police, Treatment & Community Collaborative, a newly established national coalition of law enforcement and behavioral health practitioners and researchers tasked with advancing PAD goals, successes, and research

 

Webinar 2: Law Enforcement’s Path to Improving Public Safety: Partnering with Local Behavioral Health Agencies

The nation’s opioid epidemic and a growing recognition of the impact of mental health issues are causing a shift in the way law enforcement responds to individuals suffering from addiction and mental illness. While it is not part of the core mission of law enforcement to provide treatment and behavioral health services, many are finding that by partnering with organizations that are equipped to meet these challenges, substantial strides can be made to address substance use and mental health issues within their communities.

This webinar provides information on how law enforcement can build relationships with behavioral health organizations to address community drug problems as well as treatment alternatives for mentally ill individuals.

Presenters will discuss:

  • How the opioid crisis and overdose deaths led to current partnerships and Cape Cod’s Overdose Intervention Program (OIP);
  • Why the OIP has grown in the greater community and how it elevated community policing; and
  • Lessons learned about the benefits of working together in the community, including a reduction in the number of overdose-related deaths, changing attitudes about the stigma attached to addiction, andthe improvement of relations between law enforcement and the community