Social services initiative aims to help those in need
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. » Mayor Robert Rolison has announced an initiative to aggressively link persons in need to social services.
Rolison was joined at City Hall on Tuesday by Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, city Police Chief Thomas Pape, and Andrew O’Grady, executive director of Mental Health America of Dutchess County, to announce the operation of the Behavioral Evaluation Action Team, or BEAT.
The initiative has been in service since October and is a specialized collaboration consisting of police officers with crisis intervention training working side by side with mental health workers from Dutchess County and from Mental Health America.
The team members patrol the city to interact with individuals considered to be in need of specialized services for mental health, substance abuse and homelessness.
Since it began, the program has worked 92 man hours, had 72 encounters and successfully referred 25 individuals to services.
Many persons that the program is designed to assist are known to law enforcement because officers repeatedly have responded to 911 calls for emotionally disturbed persons.
The goals of the program, Rolison said, include rapidly getting services to persons in need.
“Now we are partnering with mental health professionals, with our officers to talk to individuals that they encounter right on the street and to be able to offer them the ability to talk about what their challenges in life may be, for a mental health professional to offer potential solutions and to talk about the various support agencies that are available,” the mayor said.
Molinaro, who established the Dutchess County Stabilization Center, a Poughkeepsie center to aid persons with mental health and substance abuse issues, said he is pleased by the collaboration with the city.
“This program is exactly the progression we (Dutchess County) were hoping for when the county expanded the mental health services available to those in need,” he said.
O’Grady supervises some of the team members who patrol with the police. Concerning this initiative, he said it is a perfect match to his agency, which has the philosophy of “meeting people where they are when the need arises.”