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Date: 11/6/2023
HATFIELD — Starting at some point during the end of this year, the town of Hatfield will share an officer from Clinical & Support Options, otherwise known as CSO, with the towns of Whately and Sunderland for calls involving mental health and substance use.
According to Clinton Phillips, the lieutenant for the Hatfield Police Department, the CSO officer would join a police officer on these specific calls three days per week; one day per week with each town.
During these scenarios, a police officer would still be there to secure the scene, but a CSO officer would be present in the field to complete a general assessment of the individual involved.
“[The CSO worker] can actually do an initial interview [on scene], just like they would do at a hospital and determine is this person good to go and stay home or should they go for further treatment,” Phillips said.
During the Hatfield Select Board meeting on Oct. 17, Phillips said that Hatfield, Sunderland and Whately experienced roughly 300-400 “mental health calls” throughout a year span. He said a CSO officer would have been a good person to have during those calls.
Phillips said that Sunderland applied for a grant through the state’s Department of Mental Health for a full-time CSO officer for the three towns, but the state awarded the three towns funding for a part-time CSO officer, instead.
Each town would have that CSO worker for an eight-hour shift per week, but the worker would still service all three towns during the three days they are available.
“So, if that CSO worker is in Sunderland with that officer and we have a call to where [Hatfield] would want that crisis worker, we would contact them and they would actually come down to us,” Phillips said.
Phillips said the grant for the CSO officer is supposed to run until June 30. If, after this grant, the state feels like the call volume is great enough, the part-time CSO position may transition to a four or five-day position.
“I think it’s great that you have another tool to help a police department with,” said Ed Jaworski, a member of the Select Board.
According to Phillips, Sunderland is handling the responsibility of paying out all of the funding. In an email to Reminder Publishing, Phillips said that a clinician has been hired by CSO for the part-time job.
He added that the clinician will go through two to three weeks of training before going out into the field.
The expected start date for the clinician is the beginning of December. Phillips said the three towns will provide an announcement with details around that time.
The program will be an extension of the already-solidified partnership the Hatfield Police Department has with CSO for transports to their office or hospital.
The Hampshire County CSO is located at 8 Atwood Dr. in Northampton. According to its website, CSO provides trauma-informed care, which includes responsive and effective interventions and services to support individual adults, children and families in their quest for stability, growth and a positive quality of life.