LAFAYETTE, La. — The holiday season can be a joyful time, but for many, it brings added stress, grief and even depression. Between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, agencies across the country report a rise in mental health-related emergencies, according to the Federal Communications Commission. At the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office, deputies say they're seeing that impact firsthand.
"It's all the above — it's depression, it's sadness. Some people don't have families. Maybe it's the time of year they lost somebody close to them, and this is just not a happy time for them like it is for everybody else," said Stephen Guidry, Staff Sergeant at LPSO. "We do see a spike in mental health crisis incidents that we go to toward the end of the year versus at the beginning of the year."
Throughout the year, the Crisis Intervention Team has worked alongside deputies on hundreds of mental health calls. They say some people may hesitate to reach out for help because of concerns about law enforcement involvement, but the team helps bridge the gap.
"I do think that a lot of people deter their reasons for calling sometimes because they think law enforcement on that side can be somewhat of a problem or a situation. But with us co-responding with them and having those clinical skills for mental health, we are and we know what we are doing," Amanda Reed, a CIT member, said.
The initiative started in 2022 and was originally funded through a nearly $290,000 federal grant. But Sheriff Mark Garber plans to keep them on staff even after the grant is exhausted.
"It's proven successful," Guidry said.
Reed, a licensed professional counselor with the team since 2023, says simply showing up can make all the difference.
"A lot of times we are thanked just for being there and showing up. A lot of the skills we have is the power we have is to assess the situation, but also the empathy we bring to each member who is in crisis at the time. The value in that stands firm," she tells KATC.
Click here for some mental health resources.
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