Association News

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately 1 in 5 adults older than 18 in the United States experiences mental illness annually. That equates to approximately 43.8 million people or 18.5% of the population. Public safety officers are expected to be able to recognize and respond to people in a range of stages of distress and danger: people under the influence of drugs or alcohol; in a volatile or violent domestic situation; terrified; and very commonly, experiencing mental illness. The ability to recognize a mental health crisis—different from erratic or even obnoxious behavior—can mean the difference between an incident escalating into a dangerous situation for the campus community and de-escalating and calming a troubled community member. It’s a tall order.

IACLEA is pleased to present our newest in-person training opportunity: Mental Health Concerns on Campus.

Mental Health Concerns on Campus is part of IACLEA’s Universal Issues series, an ever-expanding group of 1½-day classes designed to bring you and your agency up to speed on some of the most challenging issues that campus public professionals face, issues that won’t go away anytime soon. Whether your agency is a small, private, unarmed security force or a large, public police force, mental health on campus impacts everyone, and everyone can benefit from IACLEA’s Mental Health Concerns on Campus course.

The class will cover topics such as:

• identification of mental illnesses commonly seen on campus
• how to respond to community members who are in crisis
• alternatives to arrest
• working with campus and local mental health resources, and
• identifying officers who are experiencing mental health-related issues.

Chief Kristen Roman from the University of Wisconsin-Madison will be the lead trainer. Josh Bronson, IACLEA’s training director, will co-facilitate the class.

Chief Roman served for more than 26 years with the Madison (Wisconsin) Police Department before taking over as chief of police in 2017 at the university. One of the highlights of Chief Roman’s career has been working to improve police services to people with mental illness. She has presented on the topic at the local, state, and national levels and has coordinated departmental Critical Incident Stress Management efforts and served as the commander of her department’s crisis negotiation team.

During his time with McDaniel College Department of Campus Safety, Bronson became one of the first four instructors in the county certified to instruct Mental Health First Aid, USA. Additionally, Bronson worked hard to develop a collaborative relationship with both on- and off-campus resources for handling cases involving mental illness.

Mental Health Concerns on Campus will take place at IACLEA member institutions the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia on Nov. 13–14, 2018, and in Denver, Colorado, at the Auraria Higher Education Center on Nov. 15–16, 2018. Cost for the class is $249 for members and $349 for non-members. Registration for both courses is open now so get your seat before they fill up! 

Contact IACLEA Director of Training Josh Bronson, jbronson@iaclea.org or 202-618-8840, with questions or ideas.