Mental health education for the Vancouver police department
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Date
2019
Authors
Hartley, Elysia
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Health Sciences
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Health Sciences
Abstract
Police officers continuously work with individuals who struggle with mental health issues. Concerns regarding criminalization of individuals with mental illness, ineffective use of the emergency department, and inadequate mental health training for police officers are identified in the literature (Coleman & Cotton, 2014; McKenna et al., 2015). Mental health education can improve health outcomes for individuals with mental health illness and who have encounters with police. This need for further education prompted the creation of an education resource that was presented to the Vancouver Police Department in a 2-hour learning session. Data was collected using participant feedback forms and both formative and summative evaluation was used to measure success of project goals. The findings concluded that mental health educational resources can improve police officer knowledge and understanding of the mental health system, the mental health act, and risk assessments.
Description
Keywords
Police , Mental health , Law enforcement , Mental health education.