Springfield's mental health crisis: The effort is greater, but not equal to the task (2024)

Gail DeGeorge had a plan.

On May 1 —her 59th birthday —she was going to kill herself.

DeGeorge, who has been diagnosed with depression and social anxiety disorder, had stopped taking her medicationand didn't have a primary care physician.

Pain was the first thing she felt when she woke up, and the last thing she felt before she fell asleep.

Then her car was stolen,twice,from her north Springfield driveway in the span of a few weeks.

When she called 911 to report the second car theft, she toldthe responding officers about her plan.

The officers, recognizing DeGeorge was in need of mental health care, put in a call to Melissa Daugherty —the firstever Springfield-basedcommunity mental health liaison.

A few days later, Daugherty and Cpl. Chris Nuccio,one of about 70Springfield officers speciallytrained to dealwith people in crisis,came back to DeGeorge's house.

Theirvisit had nothing to do with the car theft, it was about saving DeGeorge's life.

Daugherty spent four hours with DeGeorge that day filling out paperwork, getting set up with a doctor and counselor, doing "all that stuff that is tedious that you can't really do when you're not thinking straight."

Now, four months after her 59th birthday, DeGeorge is seeing a counselor, taking her medication and leaning on her new support system.

"I'm a work in progress," DeGeorge said. "The important word being 'progress.'"

Progress is the same word used by mental health advocates when they describe the collective effort to helpSpringfield's mentally ill.

Recent increases in funding haveled to successes like the community mental health liaison program, andGreene County's biggest law enforcement agencies are training more officers on how to deal withpeople in crisis.

Butthe liaison and better-trained officers have learned enough to tell you that hundreds of mentally ill people in southwest Missouri are not getting needed help, meaning they are often left wandering the streets or being takento emergency rooms and county jails.

The increase in state funding comes at the same time as the defunding of a successful local program —one that was helping mentally ill people find jobs and housing after they were released from jail.

Local mental health-care providers say they are operating at capacity; the sheriff says the jail has been used as a dumping ground for people struggling with untreated mental illnesses; and several people interviewed for this report saythe number of people suffering withmentalillness in the area keeps going up.

Liaisons take burden off police

After a man who was believed to be mentally ill shot and killed 20 children at a school in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012, many states —including Missouri —increased funding for mental health care after years of cuts.

Part of the budget increase led to the hiring of 31 community mental health liaisons across the state whose job it is to connect people referred to them by police with resources in the community.

Daugherty is the community mental health liaison for Greene, Polk, Dallas and Webster counties. And until they get a new person hired, she is also overseeing Christian, Stone and Taney counties.

When police in southwest Missouri encounter someone dealing with mental health issues, they often don't have the time or trainingto help people get health care. Now, officers can call Daugherty.

Daugherty's job is to track down the person referred to her by police—which often means calling family members or stopping by places where the homeless congregate —and try to convince that personto get help.

Sometimes, like in DeGeorge's case, the person is receptive.

But not always.

"I can't force an individual in the community to accept my help, so a lot of times I get the door slammed in my face," Daugherty said. "Every now and then, when you do see the results of someone getting the help, it really pays off and it makes you realize this is a good cause."

A veteran Springfield police officer called Daugherty "one of the best resources we've ever had."

But there's only one of her. And she's already had more than 300 individuals referred to her so far in 2016.

"I wish there was five of me in this area," Daugherty said. "It's hard for me because I feel like I can't reach every person who is referred to me, as much as I want to.

"The goal is to have them not fall through the cracks, but there is not enough hours in the day to get to everybody."

Themental health liaison program was created to ease the burden on law enforcement and hopefully get unstable people into long-term care before a tragedy like the one in Newtown, Connecticut.

Local agencies emphasizeCIT training

A year before the Connecticut shooting, law enforcement agencies in Springfield were already taking steps to better connect withthe mentally ill.

In 2011, the Greene County Sheriff's Office began offering Crisis Intervention Training for its deputies and officers from other nearby agencies. The training —which was developed in Memphis in the late 1980s —teaches police officers how to better recognize and deal with mentally ill individuals.

Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott said over the last five years hisdeputies have changed how they approach people in crisis. That is especially apparent in standoff situations, where Arnott said deputies will sometimes walk away even if the person doesn't comply with their commands to come out.

"Traditionally, I would tell you when law enforcement engaged you and you fled into the house after some bizarre behavior, we would be there until we got you out," Arnott said."Now, we look at that issue and say, they're not a threat to themselves, they're not a threatto others, there's no crime that has been committed, and we'll refer it to some mental health professionals and we'll back off."

Sheriff Arnott said about 80 percent of his deputies have gone through the 40-hour CIT training course, and the goal is to get to 100 percent.

"It should actually be a requirement in these days and times that you are CIT trained," Arnott said. "We have progressed to where we are not just law enforcement, we are also an advocate.

"We were just an advocate for victims of crimes. Now, we are an advocate for people who may commit crimes but be mentally ill."

Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams said 67 of his officers(about 20 percent of the force)have gone through CIT training.

The Springfield Police Department made the 40-hour CIT training part of its most recent academy for new officers, but Williams said the CIT training is geared more toward experienced officers, so going forward new recruits will go through an 8-hour Mental Health First Aid training, and the more in-depth CIT training will be made available to more experienced officers.

Cpl. Chris Welsh was one of the first Springfield officers to go through CIT training.

A 22-year veteran of the police force, Welsh said he volunteered for the training a few years agobecause he would encounter someone suffering from mental illness on every other call for servicewhile patrolling his beat on Commercial Street in north Springfield.

"In your first 10 years or so, you enjoy going out and arresting people on felony warrants, drug arrests," Welsh said. "Once you get settled in, you see some problems and you think, 'How can I solve them?' The CIT officers are taught to think outside the box and solve the problems."

Welsh has been one of the police department's biggest advocates for a program in which officers use iPads to set up video chats between individuals they encounter on the street and mental health professionals at Burrell Behavioral Health. The Burrell employees are then able to do quick evaluations or set the individuals up with inpatient care or future appointments.

Welsh tells the story of a delusional woman near downtown Springfield who would call police every few days believing someone had broken into her residence.

Welsh said he used the iPad to connect the woman to Burrell a few years ago, and he's never been back,meaning police don't have to waste time investigating burglaries that never occurred.

Despite the local success stories, police encounters with the mentally ill end in death at a disproportionate rate. A report last year from the Treatment Advocacy Center found that people with mental illness are 16 times more likely than others to be killed by police.

At least three of the last five people killed by Springfield police and Greene County deputies showed signs of mental illness, according to friends or family members.

Jail is home to many of area's mentally ill

Sheriff Arnott wants all his patrol deputies to be CIT trained but he said itisjust as important that his correctional officers go through the training.

Arnott said the jail is too often a "dumping ground" for people with mental illness.

Still, the sheriff said, jail is sometimes the right place for someone whois suffering from mental illness.

And treating those individuals falls on Dr. Melissa Ussery, thedirector of mental health services at the Greene County Jail.

"Everyone will play hot potato with the folks who are mixed up in mental health and law enforcement," Ussery said. "We don't have the ability to toss them to someone else. They end up with us, and we are forced to deal with some really tough issues."

Ussery estimates that more than half of the inmates at the Greene County Jail have some contact with mental health resources and 10-14 percent have serious mental illnesses.

Ussery andthe one psychologist working under her see between 15 and 30 inmates a day, many of whom have been self-medicating with drugs or alcohol.

The goal is to get those inmates stabilized while they're in the jail. But the inmates are often only behind bars for a few days, or hours, before they are released back into an environment with several potential barriers to long-term treatment —like not having knowledge about the system or the necessary paperwork to get insurance.

Program proves successful, but dollars run out

A 2010 grant from the Department of Justice gave officials in Greene County $200,000 for a Justice Mental Health Collaborative Program aimed at helping these "frequent fliers" who land in jail for nuisance violations and then keep coming back because they are struggling to get needed help on the outside.

The program brings law enforcement, mental health professionals, homeless shelters and business leaders together for monthly meetings to identify people in need and try to intervene.

"It has been very effective," Ussery said. "One of the best things that has come out of it is all of these agencies collaborating and communicating on a regular basis so we don't have the people falling through the net who used to fall through before."

Springfield Municipal Court Probation Officer Jody Austin has worked on the project since the beginning. She said the program helps these "frequent fliers" with things like getting their identification cards, finding temporary housing and obtaining medication.

Austin said there have been 22 successful graduates from the program over the last six years.

The Justice Mental Health Collaborative still meets once a month to discuss individuals who need help, but the grant money has run out.

Austin said the group now has to rely on community resourcesinstead of having its own funds, and they aren't able to offer the same services.

"That's the hardest part, not having access to funds," Austin said. "One of the things that we were able to do is pay for short stays in an apartment for a week or two.Not having that hit us huge."

Austin said if people are released from jail and they don't have a place to stay, any other plans for future doctor's appointments and counseling meetings are in jeopardy because the person has to devote so much energy to finding housing and food.

Bed space at a premium at Springfield hospitals

Sgt. Jeremy Romo, the Missouri CIT coordinator, said his goal is to make CIT training available to law enforcement in every county in Missouri.

As more officers are trained to recognize mental illness and take individuals to local hospitals and treatment centers, however, it can expose other holes in the system.

"As we train more officers in Missouri, make them believers, they are going to bring a lot more people to services," Romo said. "If the capacity for services doesn't grow at the same rate that officer knowledge is growingthen it is almost contributing to the problem."

Romo said more funding is needed to make sure mental health service providerskeep up with the demand.

One option police have when they encounter a mentally ill people who are threats to themselves or others is to bring them to the hospital for a 96-hour involuntary hold.

Cox and Mercy hospitals in Springfield combined have 84 psychiatric beds for 96-hourholds. And both units are often at capacity.

Dayna Harbin, administrative director of psychiatric services at Cox, said that's true of all inpatient facilities in the state.

If police bring someone to Cox for a 96-hour hold and there are no beds available, Harbin said her staff starts making calls and arranging for patients to be transported to other hospitals in the state that might have a bed available.

Further complicating matters, Harbin said, is that many of the individuals brought in for 96-hour holds don't have health insurance.

The Greene County Medical Examiner's office reports that suicides in the county steadily increased over the last four years, going from 32 in 2012 to 79 last year.

Officials seek clearer pictureof mental health scene

Many of thesources interviewed by the News-Leader for this report said the demand for mental heath services is increasing in Springfield.

But it's difficult to quantify why that's happening or determine how many people in Greene County are struggling with mental illness.

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department recently announced itsplans to apply for agrant from the Missouri Foundation of Health to study the local mental health scene.

ClayGoddard, assistant director of the health department, said the money would go toward hiring an outside consultant to gather data, work with stakeholders and bring together focus groups.Some questionsGoddard hopes toaddress include: "Who are the players? What's the capacity? What's the demand for service? What can we do in the scope of our control?"

Paul Thomlinson, vice president of research and quality assurance at Burrell Behavioral Health, said he hopes the health department can get the study funded.

Thomlinson said Burrell has some data about the local mental health scene, but nothing as comprehensive as what the health department is proposing.

"Do we need more mental health services? Duh, of course we do. Everyone knows that," Thomlinson said. "But what are the particular barriers?"

Asked if there are more people in Springfield suffering from mental illness or if we are simply more aware of these people, Thomlinson said "a little bit of both."

Thomlinson said he is optimistic the health department's study will lead to more collaboration between the organizations who routinely deal with the mentally ill. He said the goal is for Springfield to become a place with "no wrong doors," meaning people can get the care they need no matter where they enter the mental health-care system —whether it's an appointment at Burrell, a trip to the Greene County Jail ora 911 call about a stolen car.

DeGeorge, the woman recovering from depression, said Springfield police and community mental health liaison Melissa Daugherty saved her life.

DeGeorge said she hopes mental health-care programs in the area will continue to expand and reach more people like her. Shesaidher role now is to help reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness and show people it's OK to ask for help.

"I just want people who struggle with mental illness to know they are not alone," she said. "Too often this is a silent, personal fight."

Need help?

The National Alliance on Mental Illness in Southwest Missouri helps connect people suffering from mental illness with resources in the area.

Where:Cox Medical Tower, 1443 North Robberson Ave, Suite 408,Springfield, MO

Phone number:417-864-7119

Warm Line: 877-535-4357 or 417-864-3676