METHUEN — Chief Scott McNamara is proud to report that the Methuen Police Department has kept a pledge to improve its ability to respond to those with mental health conditions by completing the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s One Mind Campaign.
“We are committed to doing as much as we can to improve the way we address mental health issues and crises within our community, and that made completing the One Mind Campaign a major goal of the Methuen Police Department,” said Chief McNamara. “I am proud of the officers and command staff who helped us make this a reality. The changes we have made to complete this campaign will make an impact on the streets of Methuen.”
The One Mind Campaign was started by the IACP, a professional association for law enforcement leaders that provides training, technical assistance and recruitment services, in 2016. The campaign was created by a panel of law enforcement and mental health experts to address law enforcement’s response to those affected by mental health conditions. More than 600 law enforcement agencies worldwide have completed the campaign.
Achieving the goals of the One Mind Campaign Pledge is a major milestone in a long-term community policing strategy that involves mobilizing the resources of the whole community to address mental health issues.
To complete the One Mind Pledge, Methuen Police partnered with Front Line Services to add a clinical co-responder and Community Response Team to the department that provide urgent psychotherapy services. The co-responder and Community Response Team are funded by a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office).
The department also received a $550,000 Justice Mental Health Collaborative Partnership grant from the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. That money will help to fund the creation of the community response team, and the creation of a community support center in Methuen to bolster behavioral health services to those within the community.
The Community Support Center will provide Methuen Police a place where officers can refer individuals who are suffering from substance use or other behavioral health challenges for follow up care that includes post-crisis outreach, and supportsthat include peer support, benefits support, social determinants support, and therapy. It is expected to be opened by October.
Additionally, all of the Methuen Police Department’s Officers were trained in Mental Health First Aid, as were 13 civilians who work with the department in public-facing roles.
The One Mind Pledge gives participants up to three years to complete the pledge. Methuen Police began developing a comprehensive community mental health strategy in October of 2022, and completed the pledge on May 29, 2024.
The IACP provides resources to departments that pledge to join the One Mind Campaign, including a toolkit produced by the Bureau of Justice Assistance with resources for law enforcement agencies looking to partner with mental health providers, a model policy for law enforcement when responding to persons with mental health conditions, and resources for planning mental health first aid and CIT program trainings.
For more information about the One Mind Campaign, visit the IACP’s website at theiacp.org/projects/one-mind-campaign.