Along the same lines of Delta Rae Giordano’s post about
Crisis Company there’s another organization in town that also conducts trainings in crisis intervention, particularly focused on working with mentally unstable individuals.
The Barbara Schneider Foundation came about following an incident on June 12, 2000 in which Barbara Schneider, a woman struggling with bipolar disorder, was shot by police during a confrontation after a mental health crisis call.
Schneider, who struggled with bipolar disorder all her life, would sometimes sing, talk erratically, and play loud music in her apartment. According to reports from the Star Tribune, her building manager Harvey Baughman could usually calm her down, but on June 12, police arrived after a call from a neighbor complaining about loud music. Baughman called the police as well, after the initial complaint, requesting officers trained in dealing with mentally ill people, but that message was not relayed because of heavy radio traffic.
When officers reached Schneider’s apartment, she wouldn’t open the door. One of the officers opened the door, and Schneider screamed something about Satan, raising a knife over her head. The officer shut the door and called for backup. When backup arrived, Schneider tried to open the door. She was screaming, and one officer sprayed her with a chemical irritant. The officers went inside the apartment, and Schneider fled to the bedroom. They followed, arms drawn, and found her crouched in her bedroom. She jumped up, knife in hand, and said “I see they sent the Satan squad tonight.” She approached the officers, and ignored orders to drop the knife.
She was shot at least four times in the chest and abdomen.
The officers involved were cleared of any wrongdoing, but following the incident, mental health community advocates and law enforcement professionals came together to vow to do better. The Barbara Schneider Foundation officially incorporated in 2002, and since then have been conducting trainings for police officers, mental health professionals, and anyone who would need to learn how to respond appropriately in a crisis situation with mental health professionals.
Force v. fear
I learned about BSF a couple of months ago when I auditioned for them, and I’m now signed up to work for them as an actor in their workshops- my first session is later this week. At my training session, I learned about how crisis intervention requires "de-escalation techniques," as opposed to "Use of Force continuum." The Use of Force continuum is a method for officers to deal with dangerous situations. Use of Force policies describe an escalating series of actions an officer may take to resolve a situation. According to the
National Institute of Justice, the continuum begins with the officer's presence, followed by verbal commands, moving on to "empty hand control" (i.e. without a weapon), then the use of semi-lethal weapons, followed by the use of lethal weapons.
By contrast, de-escalation techniques take the opposite approach. The focus is on defusing the situation by listening, empathizing, establishing a rapport, and finally developing trust with a person in crisis to influence them to calm down. In de-escalation, it’s important to remain calm, keep physical movements to a minimum, keep a steady voice, and above all, respect the person who is in crisis because ultimately the crisis comes from fear.
Helping others with empathy
Where actors come into all this is that in the trainings that BSF conducts, the actors play the people who are in crisis, in order for the trainees—whether they be officers, social workers, or health professionals. Mark Anderson, the Executive Director for BSF, said that he feels it’s important to use professional actors to make the training sessions as realistic and believable as possible.
Actress Laurel Armstrong wrote that in her experience conducting trainings for BSF, she found it intimidating to make sure she was getting her characters right, since it is such important work. She finds the work draining, and has to learn how to balance her level of intensity in order to make it through the day-long workshops. “The first day I did it,” she wrote, “I pushed way too hard, and was exhausted (emotionally and physically) for the next few days.”
Armstrong said one of the most rewarding parts of the experience is how much she’s learned about mental illness. She’s glad to be helping others gain empathy and skills to work with the mentally ill. “Some who do the role-plays learn that they have skills to calm others they didn't even know they had,” Armstrong said. “Others realize (one hopes) that they need to work on some things they thought they had figured out.”
'She also said that that being paid isn’t bad either.
