Madison County Sheriff’s office is a state and national leader in mental health

JACKSON, TN (WNBJ)-

In the last few years, the madison county sheriff’s office has become a state and national leader when it comes to dealing with mental health. The sheriff’s office trains all of their officers with over forty hours of classes to understand and respond to those dealing with mental illness. They also have a crisis intervention team that specializes in responding to mental health crises. The way they handle these crises has become the model for the state of Tennessee.The sheriff's office works with NAMI, the national alliance on mental illness and other organizations to help those suffering from mental illness.

“Madison county is working with NAMI and the officers are able to communicate NAMI's resources to our community especially when they are free resources that NAMI offers, that is a huge win for the West Tennessee area,” says Leah gray a program manager for NAMI Tennessee.

In addition to the crisis intervention team, the madison county sheriffs’ office is one of the fifteen law enforcement-mental health learning sites in the country. Law enforcement officers from all over the country are trained by the madison county mental health classes. The national alliance on mental health, community members suffering from mental health issues, health professionals and law enforcement officers are part of teaching the courses.

Madison county sheriff john Mehr is a member of the Tennessee national alliance on mental health board.

He says that it’s a group effort to help people suffering from mental illness, “everybody’s got to work together that’s the key. It's not just one person, one department. Everybody’s got to work together to accomplish the goal to help everybody.”

The madison county sheriff's office is always looking for new ways to respond to and help those suffering from mental health issues.