Co -answers treat mental health in Mille Lacs County – Brainerd Dispatch

Milaca – Working with and in the community for the past year, Mille Lacs District answers are helping the county take a step forward in how it treats mental health calls from the public.

Chairman in the Mille Lacs Container for last year is co-response Jessi Noahring and her partner Rufus, a 2-year-old Goldendoodle, who is certified as a dog dog.

Mille Lacs Sheriff’s Operations Manual says co -answered in the department try to improve mental health and public behavior by responding to crisis situations with or without law enforcement officers, providing resources to persons and collaborating with other community agencies. Co-answer works to safely connect people who live or experience mental illness, health of behavior, chemical dependence, cross-person and homeless problems and connect them to the right supporting services.

The Mille Lacs County County program is currently funded by opioid repayment money.

“I help MPs with crisis calls and that changes every day,” Noahring said. “It can be mental health, the health of behavior, the use of substances, households, in fact any public aid, anything that can be related to someone who has a difficult time or a difficult day.”

In 2024, Noahring and Rufus responded to 519 calls for service throughout Mille Lacs.

While taking her master’s degree in social work, Noahring said she worked part -time to build a drug treatment court in the Mille Lacs region along with the work of the Anoka district medical examiner’s office. Working inside and around the Sheriff’s office as part of its work on other projects, Noahring established a relationship with district sheriff Mille Lacs Kyle Burton.

“The drug treatment court was a very new program for the district when it came and we had never had such a thing,” Burton said. “I just could see and see how well she was able to manage it and help some kind of mold in what ended, and she was definitely not afraid of a challenge.”

Burton said Noahring was a perfect adaptation as her role in the drug treatment court introduced her to many of the individuals and services she would work with every day.

Noahring said she had just finished her master’s program and was leaving a career in something involving law enforcement, but did not want to return to school for law enforcement training when the position was made available.

“At first, they were not completely sure what it would look like. We weren’t very sure what it would look like, ”Noahring said.

Although she has a table in the Mille Lacs district sheriff office, Noahring is not limited to the county calls for service as she works with and together with the local police departments and the Mille Lacs tribal police in the county.

Working in the department for nearly a year, Burton said the co -response position is the missing link that is missing many law enforcement agencies, although it is not yet a standard of industry.

“What I mean by the missing connection or the missing part is that we appear before many mental health calls/people in crisis every year and we are essentially setting some kind of band-AIDS in situations,” Burton said. “I mean, we are police officers. We are not social workers, we are not advisers, we are none of those things. “

Burton said he hears from his deputies from time to time who say you have noahring and rufus in force is helping officers face calls where nothing criminal has happened and it has the skills needed to deal with or to help the situation.

Although many times an officer or deputy is the first to respond to a call for assistance, if they determine that the situation does not pose a risk to public safety and no crime has been committed, they are often able to hand over to Noahring the scene while It can provide more services. She has the training to deal with crisis situations.

“This is where Jessi is a change of play for us, because that’s not what we are in charge of doing as policemen,” Burton said. “Her ability to connect with people because she is not a police officer. Often, for us, only uniform is an obstacle for some people, especially those suffering from mental health problems. I have been in a number of phone calls with Jessi, where I saw her be able to make that connection immediately because she is not a policeman, and she can go down to someone’s level and should not overcome her, that barrier to the uniform we sometimes do just by appearing in a scene. ”

Also, breaking the barriers in the scene is the therapist Rufus dog, who both Noahring and Burton said can enter and completely change the surrounding situation.

“Sometimes, even just the presence of rufus is enough to break the ice with someone,” Burton said. “I’ve seen it many times where someone didn’t want to speak, but then they see rufus, and it’s like,” Oh, wait a minute, what is it about? “And sometimes that can be exactly that ice -ice launched a conversation with someone. ”

Around 10am on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, Noahring and Rufus were preparing to visit a family whose daughter was diagnosed with schizophrenia and had sought help.

Before being able to load on their team’s car, Noahring received a call from the school resource officer at high school Princeton seeking help with a minor who had suicide thoughts.

When they appeared in the building, Noahring spoke to the school resource officer, the Princeton Police Officer, Nicole Josephes, to discover what happened while Rufus did his lap through the school office, taking pets and leaving People smile.

When they entered the room, Rufus seemed to know exactly who needed help as he went and sat with the minor.

“We’re there to hear their concerns and talk about what might happen,” Noahring said.

Although not much said at first, the tension in the room began to melt with the help of a therapy dog ​​and a relationship between Noahring and juveniles slowly was built. After discussing their options, the minor made the decision to seek further assistance and sought to be seen in an emergency.

Rufus sat with the minor on the hospital trip while Noahring continued to build relationships with them. She told them the process the hospital would go through and how things would happen, not letting the minor assume or ask what was going on.

As they arrived at the hospital, Rufus and Noahring helped the minor checked while waiting in the hospital to be called.

The duo stuck with the minor as they talked to doctors and nurses, but left after the minor was told they were good now to talk to the nurses. Before leaving the room, they came up with a plan to talk in the future and Noahring gave them contact information if they needed anything before they met again.

Around noon, Noahring and Rufus turned to their initial call for help. Noahring said she had worked with her family for several months and saw the progress made by the family member, noting that when they started working together, they would talk to her alone from the door, but over time they became more comfortable and were able. to make walks and make conversations.

The family asked Noahring to help them control the house after having some concerns due to the latest activity.

Although nothing was found, Noahring said it was a good way to help the community by facilitating some of the stress and tension people are facing. And by going home to help, they were able to hold an MP not to be connected to a call that was best suited for him.

Tim Speier, staff writer, can be reached on Twitter

@Timmy2thyme

Call 218-855-5859 or email

Tim.speier@brainerdispatch.com

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