Mental Crisis Calls To Be Handled By New Social Worker Position

WINTER HAVEN, FL — Winter Haven residents will soon have a new option of mental crisis support through the police department by the agency hiring a licensed clinical social worker to help with mental health calls.

Police officers with the Winter Haven Police Department have trained in the critical incident technique, however, officers only have two options available when they are called to a critical scene involving a mental health crisis: Baker Act or arrest.

"These two options do not productively work toward solving the underlying mental health crisis that more and more people in our community, and nationwide are facing," a police news release reported.

The Baker Act has been used 100 times from January through February this year in Winter Haven. Many of those were repeat Baker Acts, police said.

The Baker Acts law allows doctors, mental health professionals and police to commit a person to a mental health treatment center for up to 72 hours if they display certain violent or suicidal signs of mental illness.

The Role Of The Licensed Clinical Social Worker

The Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) position will work in a proactive capacity to provide services and will be responsible for community health support for individuals identified by Winter Haven Public Safety personnel to be at risk relating to mental health, a news release said.

• This new member of the public safety team will assess individual and family needs in areas of mental health and chronic illness.
• They will be able to provide counseling support and also coordinate connections to and follow-up with other social and community resources.
• Areas of concern the social work will address include mental and chronic illness, homelessness, and substance abuse, loss of life, poverty and criminal behavior.
• They will stay in touch with referred individuals and families, serving as a liaison between the department, community, public agencies and other professionals providing support services.

“The goal is to have a highly trained professional on our team who can build bridges between citizens in crisis and critical support systems in our community,” Mike Herr, city manager said. “We recognize a critical need in our community and are doing all we can to provide the right support at the right time.”

The city of Winter Haven plans to advertise for this new position in a few weeks.