Stonington announces effort to assist residents with mental health issues
Stonington — The town, in conjunction with the United Way of Connecticut, on Wednesday launched a pilot program that will encourage residents needing assistance with mental health and other human service issues to uitilize the extensive resources of the state's 211 system instead of calling 911.
First Selectwoman Danielle Chesebrough said police have reported that mental health calls have increased dramatically for them during the COVID-19 pandemic, placing an additional burden on officers who are not mental health experts.
She said the idea is to get residents to call 211 if the issue they face is not a "life-threatening emergency" that requires police and other emergency services to respond.
She said 211 operates 24/7 and can provide support and connect people with mental health and other needed services. In addition, 211 has mobile crisis units that can be deployed if needed. It is the state's primary phone-based health and human services referral service and can also help with issues including homelessness, child care, food insecurity, substance abuse and rental and utilities support.
The idea behind the program is to decrease the number of calls being made to 911. Chesebrough said the data will be collected over the next few months to determine if the program is working and, if so, that information will be shared with other municipalities across the state.
"We're hoping to remove the stigma with mental health care and encourage people to be proactive like they do with their physical health," Chesebrough said.
She said the town has plans to put up a billboard and signs and distribute mailers and other items to residents to build awareness about the effort. She added that Miranda Creative of Norwich has offered its services for the initiative at no cost to the town.
Chesebrough said the program developed from conversations she had with with resident Lisa Tepper Bates, who is the president and CEO of the United Way of Connecticut and serves on the town's Board of Police Commissioners as well as police Chief J. Darren Stewart and Capt. Todd Olson.
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