St Catherine police launch mental health support group

The St Catherine South Police Division has launched a Family and Community Mental Health Support Group as part of efforts to strengthen its response to mental health challenges within communities.

The initiative follows the establishment of a mental health desk at the St Catherine South Police Station in 2024 and comes ahead of the observance of Mental Health Week during the first week of October.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Pilmar Powell said the support group was created in response to the growing number of calls received by the mental health desk from relatives seeking assistance for loved ones experiencing mental health challenges.

“Coming out of these calls, we realised within these calls the depression of the family members,” Powell said.

Powell, along with then Senior Superintendent of Police Christopher Phillips, was instrumental in organising the first six-week training course for 25 first responders. The group comprised 21 police officers and four representatives from stakeholder organisations, including the Transport Authority, the Portmore Municipality, the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and the Jamaica Fire Brigade.

Reducing the stigma

She said the establishment of the Family and Community Mental Health Support Group represents another component of the mental health desk, with greater emphasis on community involvement.

According to Powell, the initiative is also aimed at reducing the stigma often associated with mental health challenges and encouraging communities to support affected individuals and their families.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Christopher Phillips, who is set to head the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Community Safety and Security Branch, said the government’s focus on expanding community mental health services, including crisis response, reflects an important shift in the national conversation.

“It says that the national conversation is changing, and we must ensure that our communities change with it,” Phillips asserted.

“One of the lessons that I take from my own experience working in communities,” he continued, “is that early intervention saves lives. Too often we wait until an incident becomes a police matter before we respond,” he said, while pointing to other crises that could potentially be avoided through early intervention.

Phillips argued that crime prevention cannot be separated from social well-being.

“If we are serious about preventing violence protecting families, supporting children and creating safer communities then we must be able to go beyond the immediate incident and ask what is happening underneath it.”

He said the question of what role the police should play in responding to mental health issues is becoming increasingly important.

Partnership with communities

Phillips pointed out that the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s community policing philosophy explicitly recognises that policing must be carried out in partnership with communities.

“So if we are serious about changing outcomes, then training must become a central part of our response. We need police officers trained to recognise mental health crisis,” he said.

Phillips pledged that, from his new position, he intends to expand mental health training across the police force.

Meanwhile, Commander of the St Catherine North Police Division, Senior Superintendent Leighton Gray, who launched the initiative under the theme, ‘Removing the Stigma, Let’s Talk: Mental Health is Real’,”said the programme is encouraging people to break the silence surrounding mental health.

He said the initiative seeks to eliminate discrimination and create an environment in which individuals feel safe speaking openly about their mental health challenges.

ruddy.mathison@gleanerjm.com