West Michigan Community Mental Health received a grant to help keep people suffering from mental illness out of jails.
The three year $750,000 grant will help train police officers in Lake, Mason, and Oceana Counties, on how to respond to a mental health crisis.
They will also implement a mobile crisis intervention team, as well as iPads for officers, offering tele-health help when needed.
“At any point in the system when a person with a mental illness interacts with the legal system; if there’s a mental health situation going on, we seek to get that person the help they need right there and then. As opposed to having them unnecessarily going through the legal process, maybe even going to jail,” said Josh Snyder, Chief Clinical Officer.
West Michigan Community Mental Health also plans to hire more counselors for the jails.
