Windermere foundation sponsors officers for mental health course

WINDERMERE — Because of the circumstances surrounding the death of Windermere Police Officer Robbie German, his father, Tim German, asked Police Chief Dave Ogden whether training was available for police and first responders to deal with people with mental health issues.

Months of conversations between the two kept the topic fresh in Ogden’s mind.

“As a former high-risk incident commander, I would rely on mental health professionals for that,” Ogden said. “Truly, there is not a lot of everyday officers on the streets to deal with those issues.”

Then Ogden noticed something in an issue of Police Chief Magazine, the official publication of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

“That international Police Chief Magazine is really how it all started, presenting such a class for frontline forces out on the streets, to give them tools to combat and deal with individuals and come out with a better situation,” he said. “Based on that, I reached out to Bryan Gibb from Mental Health First Aid, and we started up a correspondence and told him about what I was trying to do, our foundation and an officer killed in the line of duty.”

This has led to a partnership between Mental Health First Aid and the Windermere Police Department Foundation, which Ogden helped to establish in honor of Robbie German. In this partnership, the organizations presented the Mental Health First Aid class April 22 in Kissimmee.

“We actually were very fortunate,” Ogden said. “As we started talking about putting a class on, Bryan told me they were hosting the National Council for Behavioral Health Conference here. We wanted to open it for all Central Florida officers to attend. The National Council is picking up some of the bill (to allow officers to attend for free), and we’re picking up the rest.”

The course included eight hours of training on how to handle people in crisis, under duress or who are mentally ill. At least 48 police officers, dispatchers, corrections staff, probation and parole staff, court staff and other criminal-justice workers attended from departments throughout Central Florida, said Gibb, the director of public education for Mental Health First Aid USA. Among them were the Orlando Police Department, Orange County Sheriff’s Office and eight of 13 full-time Windermere Police Department officers, some using their days off as part of a greater force commitment, Ogden said.

“I’m going to be attending the course just like everyone else,” Ogden said before the class. “As a high-risk incident commander who was responsible for crisis negotiations and such, I’m very interested. I’m sure it’s going to have a lot of helpful information for frontline supervisors to prevent situations from escalating as much as they can. If this is something we really latch on to, I think the foundation is going to pick up an ongoing class, or we could get an instructor certified.”

Retired Sgt. Eric Weaver, a former SWAT and Crisis Intervention Team instructor and suicide-prevention specialist, helped Gibb teach the course. Among the key concepts of the course was a five-step action plan to deal with people in crisis: assess for risk of suicide or harm; listen non-judgmentally; give reassurance and information; encourage appropriate professional help; and encourage self-help and other support strategies.

“This is, I think, the first time the course is in Florida, definitely the first time in Central Florida,” Ogden said. “It’ll be interesting to evaluate. I’ve found more officers are being trained in mental health, not just special units. We’re finding more officers having to be jacks of all trades. I’m hoping this course brings that out in us.”

For more information, visit MentalHealthFirstAid.org or WindermerePDFoundation.com, or contact Chief Ogden at [email protected] or (407) 876-3757.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].