Association News

IACLEA is pleased to debut a new 1½ day course: Addressing Mental Health Concerns on Campus, an invaluable training that will cover common mental health conditions, strategies for recognizing and interacting with community members with mental health problems, and officer wellness. The course is open to members and non-members, with discounted fees for members. 

The course will be offered twice this fall at two IACLEA member institutions:

November 13–14 at the University of the Sciences, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and

November 15–16 at the Auraria Higher Education Center, Denver, Colorado.

During this important training, participants will learn about the prevalence of mental illness on campus, as well as the unique challenges that develop in the campus environment. The course will cover major mental illnesses, such as depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and personality disorders, and how they might manifest among community members. An understanding of these issues is the foundation to move into intervention strategies, such as de-escalation and stabilization. The training will address officer safety concerns when interacting with an individual in crisis.

More and more, campus public safety personnel encounter people exhibiting signs of mental health problems.

Recognizing the characteristics of mental health issues and choosing tactics to manage and resolve the situation calmly and without incident is a valuable component to community service-oriented policing.

Tactics include working with campus and community mental health partners for referrals, voluntary and involuntary treatment, and arrest. Trainers will discuss alternatives for non-sworn officers.

It is also important for public safety to understand how to work with mental health practitioners and to recognize that peacekeepers need to take care of themselves before they can take care of others. Campus public safety personnel are routinely exposed to high-stress environments, and it is important that agencies support officers and other staff to manage the stress in a healthy manner. In learning about critical incident stress management, officer-involved critical incident response/support, and strategies to promote resiliency, participants will better be able to promote and develop an organizational culture of support. This culture of support is crucial to campus public safety agencies as they fulfill their duty.

IACLEA has secured a top-tier trainer for this timely course: Chief Kristen Roman, University of Wisconsin – Madison, who will develop and serve as the lead instructor. Chief Roman is an expert on addressing mental health concerns on campus, and she has worked for years as both a practitioner and an instructor in this area. IACLEA Director of Training Josh Bronson will co-facilitate the class. During his time as a campus public safety deputy chief, Bronson was a certified Mental Health First Aid USA instructor.

Cost: Members = $249 and Non-Members = $349

For more information on this and other IACLEA training opportunities, contact IACLEA’s Director of Training Josh Bronson, at jbronson@iaclea.org or 202-618-8840.