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On a warm fall afternoon in Kansas Public School District #500, Officer Orlando Singleton takes a breather after helping another teenager through a mental health crisis.<\/p>\nOn a warm fall afternoon in Kansas Public School District #500, Officer Orlando Singleton takes a breather after helping another teenager through a mental health crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just got him calmed down,\u201d Singleton shares before transporting the student to professional care. \u201cWe\u2019re letting him de-escalate and breathe. He\u2019ll ride with us to the care facility instead of being handcuffed and taken straight to juvenile detention\u2014the way things used to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The boy, age 13, confesses to Singleton that he\u2019s depressed and that nobody cares about him. The officer assures him that yes, people do care about him. He encourages him to \u201cremember that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The student is taken to a psychiatric treatment center for children and adolescents. Later, the boy\u2019s mother gives Singleton a grateful hug.<\/p>\n
In early 2015, Singleton and five other school district staff members completed Youth Mental Health First Aid Instructor training. The program teaches adults how to support young people who are experiencing a mental health or substance use challenge or crisis.<\/p>\n
Mental Health First Aid training has taught the officer to ask his charges, \u201cWhat happened?\u201d instead of, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been such an effective tool,\u201d the 25-year law enforcement veteran says. \u201cNow we\u2019re so much more aware of what the kids are going through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now he approaches every child with an open mind and heart. \u201cWe need to find out what\u2019s really happening to cause that behavior and not just in that moment of the encounter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The district\u2019s Director of Student Services, Lisa Garcia-Stewart, says those certified as Mental Health First Aid Instructors \u2013 including Singleton \u2013 have reached out widely with training to mental health counselors, school counselors, liaisons, community volunteers, churches, district employees and members of the PTA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is to normalize the conversation around mental health,\u201d she says. \u201cWe want to provide access to get help when someone needs it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additionally, Singleton has now trained all the district\u2019s police officers in Youth Mental Health First Aid.<\/p>\n
This a model that has been replicated nationally. In 2016, the International Association of Chiefs of Police called for 100 percent of their sworn officers and other support staff to be trained in Mental Health First Aid. To date, 182 law enforcement agencies have taken the pledge.<\/p>\n
Singleton has a favorite saying about troubled children that never fails to elicit a smile: \u201cThere are no bad apples in the bunch. We may have a few bruised ones but they actually turn out to make a good pie in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n