Alpena, MichiganLocal Weather Alerts
There are currently no active weather alerts.

Crisis Intervention Team coming to Alpena County

ALPENA, Mich. — The Alpena County Sheriff’s Office is getting close to activating their new Crisis Intervention Team. Three members from the sheriff’s office have recently completed a 40-hour training course to qualify.

This team is focused on dealing with encounters involving individuals who are dealing with a mental health crisis. Alpena County Sheriff Steven Kieliszewski says it will consist of trained personnel with different specialties working together to deal with these encounters. “You may have a police officer, you may have a mental health worker, and you may have somebody who has expertise with addiction–drug addiction,” he said. “They’ll go out, they’ll assess the situation, they’ll talk with the individual and then find out what’s going on and then from there, get the individual the help that they need.”

Members of the Crisis Intervention Team are trained in diffusing a situation, suicide prevention, and dealing with drug addiction among other things. Sheriff Kieliszewski said this team will also serve as a diversion from jail which could end up hurting the person’s mental health even more. “When the individual is brought into the jail, we’re just compounding the mental health crisis that that person is going through at that time,” he said. “When appropriate, and I want to emphasize, when appropriate, the individual is diverted from coming into jail and then put into a program where they can get the help they need.”

Kieliszewski is hoping to activate the team within the next few months. There still needs to be more personnel added to the team, and the sheriff’s office is still looking for commitments from mental health organizations who would be willing to partner up.