Johnson County to offer Crisis Intervention Training next March

IOWA CITY - Crisis Intervention Training is coming to Johnson County in 2017.

During a meeting of stakeholders associated with the CIT project - which aims to address homeless and mental health issues in the county - Johnson County Sheriff's Office Maj. Steve Dolezal said law enforcement officials will host Crisis Intervention Training in Iowa City next year. Previously, police officers, sheriff's deputies and other officials had traveled to San Antonio to undergo the 40-hour training.

'I'm happy to announce that we have set our first training date,” Dolezal said.

The training will take place March 20-24 at St. Patrick's Church on the east side of Iowa City. San Antonio officials, who have been providing training to area officers over the last year, will be traveling to Iowa City to assist in training area officers.

'We've gotten them on board,” Dolezal said. 'That's a big step for us.”

The costs of putting on the training were not discussed Wednesday.

Groups of law enforcement officers and local officials have been training to San Antonio periodically over the last year to learn about their crisis intervention system with the goal of bringing the model to Johnson County. In addition to training officers on how to de-escalate situations with individuals who may be experiencing substance abuse or mental health issues, San Antonio is home to a mental health and homeless campus that includes a sobering center, low barrier homeless shelter and mental health crisis stabilization network.

Johnson County government officials - including police and policymakers, health care providers and representatives from various community organizations first met in February 2015 to discuss how the San Antonio approach could be adopted locally. Subcommittees tasked with exploring training, the low barrier shelter, sobering center and mental health crisis center were formed and have met in the intervening months. Wednesday marked the first time the stakeholders have reconvened to discuss their progress.

Johnson County Board of Supervisors member Janelle Rettig said the there would be 60 participants and 60 observers at each local training session. Officials hope to host three training sessions a year.

'By the end of those trainings, about 180 new people would be trained,” Rettig said. 'It's a pretty substantial number.”

Ultimately, the training will be expanded to not only police, but also firefighters and medical officials such as EMTs and paramedics. Jessica Peckover, the county's jail alternatives coordinator who is spearheading the project, said communities outside of Johnson County will be invited to have representatives at the training.

Ron Berg, chief executive officer of Prelude Behavioral services and head of the subcommittee that is exploring the sobering unit, offered a glimpse Wednesday of what an integrated access and resource center would look like. Berg said the facility would serve people who are intoxicated, having a mental health crisis or in need of shelter. Previously, many of those individuals would wind up in jail or a hospital. Berg said the resource center would include a sobering unit with 10 beds, 10 observation beds for those experiencing mental health issues and five crisis stabilization beds.

The facility would be staffed 24 hours a day with advanced nurse practitioners, EMTs, mobile crisis staff, a psychiatric nurse and support staff.

Berg discussed a scenario in which the former TMone building on Boyrum Street in Iowa City would be purchased and renovated into the resource center. Startup costs were estimated at $7 million and annual operating costs were estimated at $5.5 million.

'It's more than double what I thought it was going to be,” Rettig said of the estimated costs. 'I have a hard time getting my arms around this dollar amount. This seems pretty pie in the sky for me.”

However, various people at the meeting said it was worth exploring potential funding sources for the facility and if the center would create savings for other organizations that could be diverted to offset costs.

'From a policymaker standpoint, at this point, I have no idea what the ‘ask' might be,” said Iowa City Council member Susan Mims. 'It's hard to sit here and say, ‘Wait a minute, we're way off scale.'”

The subcommittees were tasked with convening again throughout the summer to get a better idea of costs related to the facility and identify potential funding resources. The group is scheduled to meet as a whole again on Aug. 24.