TOLEDO, Ohio — Nearly 30 northwest Ohio first responders are now better equipped to handle a person in crisis.
On Friday, Officer Wyatt Saylor worked through a scenario given to him by a professional at a Renewed Mind. He needed to approach and help a woman showing signs of schizophrenia while keeping her calm.
"Staying calm, being the gentle type instead of that authoritative figure, I think is huge and every police officer should take that approach initially if the incident calls for it," Saylor said.
Saylor said scenes like his training scenario aren't uncommon at his job. He spends most of his time as an officer at Mercy St. Vincents in downtown Toledo.
"I learned about open-ended questions, closed-ended questions, how to get that rapport together... I don't want them to see the uniform, I want them to see me as someone who can help," Saylor said.
This entire week, he and his classmates learned from experts about mental health, ways to keep the conversation going and how to de-escalate situations where people are in crisis.
"When they go back to their departments, they can be called upon when there is someone who has a mental illness, addiction or a developmental disability," Lucas County Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Coordinator Robert Kasprzak said.
Since CIT classes began in Lucas County about 20 years ago, more than 1,000 first responders have been trained.