DEALING WITH THE MENTALLY ILL PERSON ON THE STREET

Book excerpt: This unique guide will serve as a street survival guide for public safety officers and supervisors alike. The author, Doctor Daniel Rudofossi, a sworn police officer and police psychologist in the NYPD and DEA among other agencies, offers a thorough assessment and intervention guide for clinicians and public safety professionals in dealing with mentally ill persons. Using his technique, the Eco-Ethological Existential Analytic method, he presents an original approach toward compassionate and safe interventions with mentally ill citizens who become involved with public safety officers. It will open the doors to an effective and highly meaningful guide officers can put into practice immediately, so that officers and supervisors can maximize the outcome of safe and effective humane processing of mentally ill with the potential for violence. Case examples and question-and-answer sections are also provided that offer user-friendly guidelines for ensuring custody to rehabilitation of the mentally ill street person. The guide also provides information on how to gain self-care and referral to peers when the stressors of dealing with the mentally ill start to increase to burnout and “compassion fatigue” in first responders and mental health counselors. It will also provide a wide overview as well as in-depth coverage of the evolving specialty of police psychology. The book will prove to be an invaluable resource for a wide audience of professional police officers, emergency medical technicians, firefighters, military guard, public and private security, criminal justice practitioners, counselors, social workers and others in responding to such crises. From triage through the police custodial role to outreach and cooperation with local and community mental health clinics, the approaches offered in this book will lead to the best of all possible outcomes.