Even though many of you signed up for the law and order part of policing, many times you end up doing the mental health/social work side. As the system of care in many places continues to struggle with meeting the increasing needs of the community, more and more calls end up in the laps of officers. Many of these calls involve children. After all, something has to be done and law enforcement has become the catch-all and last stop. Some calls require a swift and definitive solution. When a child is unsafe for themselves or others, including physical aggression towards their family and property, self-harm or threats of suicide, an officer often has few options other than what is in his or her toolbox including physical restraint and/or arrest. But there are many other calls where if the community were to have a mental health safety net, the situation would be sent their direction. After all, they are better suited to dealing with this type of need. Unfortunately, so many communities lack this resource and officers have to play this role as well. Here are a few tips for your toolbox and also information you can offer out to help families who have a child in a mental health crisis.
Physiology
Anyone who is familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs knows that the very basic level is physiological. All humans have basic needs that must be met before we can move on. This is good to keep in mind when you are dealing with a child’s mental health crisis whether it’s in the preventative or the escalation phase. Let’s look at three basic needs and how when they are not met they affect behavior/mental health.
Dehydration
Studies show that even mild dehydration can create affects physically, mentally and emotionally. Research shows it alters:
- Mood
- Energy level
- Ability to think clearly
It also causes:
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Difficulty concentrating
- Difficulty with mental tasks including working memory
- Tension
- Anxiety
A child that is losing focus, refusing to follow directions and beginning to tantrum may just need a drink of water.
Hunger
Everyone who has ever missed a meal knows that being hungry is physically uncomfortable. The low blood sugar created by lack of food also creates other issues which affect mental health, including:
- Low energy
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Irritability
- Moodiness
- Reduced ability to concentrate
It might sound simplistic but just like with a hypotensive diabetic a snack might ward off a worsening episode for an acting out child.
Lack of Sleep
Whether it’s because children’s schedules, including school do not take into account their increased need for sleep and their circadian rhythms that want them to sleep later into the day or they are suffering from night issues due to mental health diagnoses such as PTSD, children often do not get the sleep they need. If you’ve ever experienced an over-tired toddler, you know how rigid and unpleasant their behaviors can be. This is because lack of sleep, especially over a long period of time causes a variety of issues, such as:
- Irritability
- Anger
- Depression
- Difficulty paying attention and focus
- Confusion
- Hampers the ability to perform tasks
- Impairs judgment
- Hampers concentration including impairment of short-term and long-term memory
An acting out child might benefit from a calm space and the ability to take a nap.
Again, these physiological tips may seem rather simplistic when you are faced with a chaotic situation and an aggressive child. But, I have found that when parents and caregivers of difficult children are given more tools for their tool box in reference to prevention, they are grateful and police are less likely to be called out to deal with a volatile situation in the home.
Escalation: Rational and Irrational
One more thing to keep in mind is the scale of a child’s escalation. Again, physiology plays a role in how we attempt to handle an escalation. Our response should match where the child is at on this scale. In the beginning of an escalation, physical signs begin to emerge, such as clenched fists, muscle tensions, red face, and rapid breathing. At this point, the child is still able to access the higher reasoning portion of their brain. You can try techniques like removing stimuli and creating a distraction, such as reading aloud, singing or finding hidden pictures like Where’s Waldo. The caregivers should have some idea of what has worked in the past to calm their child down. Ask them and use these strategies. At a certain point, a child goes beyond this stage and is no longer rational. They have moved into the reptilian part of their brain and are purely in survival mode. You cannot reason with them. Traditional rewards/consequences often won’t work because getting them to behave based on motivation is impossible when their brain is shut down. They literally are in a break from reality. At this point, all professionals can do is keep them safe physically. Once they have calmed down, encourage the caregivers to reach out to their mental health professionals, such as therapists, skill builders, case managers. Have resource material if there are mental health/crisis intervention services in the area and give those to the caregivers. Be empathetic. Most emotional/behavioral outbursts in children are not due to the current caregivers’ lack of caring or parenting ability. Many times it is due to trauma in another environment at a young age. These caregivers are already exhausted. Adding your contempt or judgement to the situation is never helpful. On the other hand, if it’s a situation that needs looked into don’t turn the other cheek.
Working with children can be complicated. It is further complicated when you work in a profession that has become the go-to for anything volatile in the community including mental health crises. Having some additional tools and information about some root causes and some ideas for how to help in these situations will help you not only do your job better but hopefully be able to calm the situation down quickly and move on with your day to go do what you really want to do-chase bad guys.
Michelle Perin
Michelle Perin has been a freelance writer since 2000. In December 2010, she earned her Master’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Indiana State University.
