Johns Hopkins University pilots new program pairing security officers with behavioral health team
BALTIMORE MD May 22 2021 One-third of calls coming into Johns Hopkins University Office of Campus Safety and Security are incidents related to a mental health crisis.
“We may get a parent who just had a conversation with their child and was just really concerned because of something that they said just didn’t seem right or we may get a call from a faculty member who has said I haven’t seen this student in a long time,” said Kevin Shollenberger, the university’s vice provost for student health and well-being.
It caused the University to look to something different and create a new kind of response.
Through a new pilot program starting this fall at their Homewood campus, they’ll be pairing campus officers with a member from a behavioral health crisis support team.
“These clinicians are probably in a better position to these kinds of crises,” Shollenberger said.
The university is working in partnership with Baltimore Crisis Response Inc. Executive Director Edgar Wiggins says they’ll have their crisis teams respond to Hopkins locations.
It’s a program psychiatrist, Dr. Ronald Means knows will work because he’s already been doing it for years in Baltimore at Catholic Charities.
He believes in the program, mainly because, it provides support during and even after an incident.
“It not only can work to intervene in the moment of crisis but makes sure that those who are getting a one-time crisis service can go on to have further intervention down the line,” Dr. Means said.
For Hopkins student Ben Schneider, “It’s great to see long-term solutions that care about the individual people over time.”
