In 2015, EPD reported 171 “mental health referrals.” That grew to 245 in 2017 and 424 in 2020. After a slight drop to 408 in 2021, the number reached a new peak of 455 in 2022.

January is following the upward trend with 58 mental health contacts by EPD, 15 more than the previous January, said EPD Capt. Dan Hansberry.

Suicidal calls reported to the EPD have also risen since 2015. That year, there were 92 such calls compared with 143 in 2021 during the pandemic.

Patrols often end up handling these calls when a friend or family of someone in distress calls the dispatch center for help, said officer Jennifer Margheim.

“Anytime patrols are dispatched to these types of calls, we will always make sure to check the box for mental health referral so that we can partner with mental health professionals to try to get these individuals help,” she said.

Reasons for more calls?

The cause for the increase in mental health impacts is a complex and multifaceted issue, said Dr. Cindy Bruns, Central Washington University’s director of counseling.

“I think part of it, hopefully, is related to some of the education and prevention efforts that have taken place... community-wide and educating our youths as well about mental health,” Bruns said.

Due to the increased awareness and destigmatizing efforts toward mental health, Bruns believes the increased impacts may be caused by a “generational shift.”

“When I was growing up... people didn’t go to therapy and do all of those sorts of things as naturally as some people are able to do now,” Bruns said. “I wonder if part of the increase in calls is people are more willing to reach out for help.”

However, she notes there are still ongoing factors that can contribute to distress.

“We know that anxiety is on the rise for folks,” Bruns said. “We know that when the economy and the world feels uncertain, that leaves people feeling personally less grounded and unmoored.”

David Douglas is the Executive Director and founder of the non-profit Kittitas County Recovery Community Organization. He works closely with EPD as a consultant on their mental health and substance abuse referrals.

He believes there was a mental health and substance abuse crisis already in place, but it was made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were in, really, a crisis mode with annual overdose deaths just rising,” Douglas said. “I, and many others in this arena, were just kind of like, ‘Oh, it’s not going to get better,’ and it got drastically worse.”

Substance use connection

The EPD’s 2021 Crime Report lists 39 drug overdoses and six deaths in 2021, a 50% increase in overdose-related deaths. The report places the average age of the victims between 16 and 30.

According to Margheim, mental health referrals to EPD often go hand-in-hand with substance use.

In 2021, a Washington State Supreme Court decision ruled the felony drug possession law was unconstitutional.

Prior to the ruling, a resident would be arrested for simple possession of drugs such as fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroine. The court system could then place them on a recovery pathway through the Behavioral Health Court, also known as “therapeutic court,” operated by the Kittitas County District Court.

“I think the officers feel that if we could arrest or charge this person with possession of fentanyl and trespassing, or whatever the associated crime is, they would potentially be eligible for behavioral court where they would get some assistance,” Hansberry said. “But instead, the officers aren’t allowed to do that.”

Douglas, who is also a Central Washington University educator, is involved with a research project in Yakima County looking at the fallout of the Washington v. Blake decision that found existing felony drug possession laws to be unconstitutional.

Douglas, who is in recovery himself, believes in being held accountable for breaking laws, but recognizes a complex reality for those with both mental health issues and substance use problems.

“The reality is with addiction... (what people) need is treatment and access to resources, not repeated access to jail because that’s taxpayer-funded money,” he said.

Douglas believes repeated access to jail doesn’t get to the core of the issue: substance use and mental health disorders.

“Individuals usually need a safe place to live, access to jobs, access to education, access to food, all of those other resources,” said Douglas, who believes a successful recovery plan takes roughly two years.

“Now, am I saying every individual needs two years worth of funding to get their life in order? No, that’s not the case,” he said. “But we don’t have that now. And we need more of that. I would say even more so on the mental health side.”

Limited resources

While Douglas advocates for resources, he recognizes there is a critical lack of options in rural communities.

There is a shortage of mental health professionals, especially in rural communities. Kittitas County also currently lacks a homeless shelter, and Kittitas Valley Healthcare (KVH) lacks inpatient facilities for mental health.

“We have been recruiting psychiatrists for as long as I’ve been here, and they are not out there,” said KVH CEO Julie Petersen.

KVH is unable to staff and support a psychiatric inpatient facility, forcing it to collaborate with other facilities to meet community needs, she said.

“We want to be there with the folks in the community like the jail, like law enforcement, like the schools that are also bearing the burden of that shortfall,” Petersen said. “But there is a huge gap between the need for mental health services, inpatient and outpatient, and what is available to the state of Washington.”

Douglas believes the shortage pushes existing resources toward “burnout,” a state of work-induced mental and physical exhaustion.

This exhaustion can fall on the shoulders of first responders and mental health professionals, he said.

One common issue is a lack of insurance for people who need help, Douglas said.

“A lot of people who are in the highest of need, unfortunately, a lot of times they don’t have insurance,” he said. “They don’t have a place to live, or the place they live is not a safe place.”

Bruns said that over time, those challenges would affect anyone’s mental health.

“Then depression or anxiety, or things like that, can certainly come into play,” she said.

Making a difference

Bruns believes there are ways first responders, friends, community and family members who can use empathetic tactics to temporarily assist a peer in the midst of a mental health crisis.

“I find when talking with folks who are in distress, they just want somebody who can hear and listen and sit with the depth of pain that they’re experiencing, at least for a while,” she said.

Margheim uses similar tactics when covering mental health calls for the EPD.

“We have a duty to care,” she said. “And sometimes, I think that is what gets these people to accept the resources.”

Ultimately, a person in distress needs hope that everything will be OK, Bruns said.

“Once that connection is made, and that isolation is broken, that’s where hope comes in, that’s where the potential for change comes...” she said. “I think we underestimate the power of one small thing to make a really positive change in our trajectory.”