Officials Emphasize Mental Health After Stafford Safety Incidents

STAFFORD, NJ — Stafford officials emphasized the resources the township offers for residents dealing with mental health issues in a recent Mayor's Forum panel held with community experts. Officials shared the available resources and how police, schools and mental health professionals all work together to keep the community safe.

The panel was held in light of the Uvalde shooting that killed 21, but also because of issues in Stafford itself.

"Unfortunately, there have been a number of incidents around the country recently, and even a few here in Stafford Township," Mayor Greg Myhre said.

"The whole aspect of going to school has changed a lot," Myhre said. "School security is something that everybody takes seriously."

To help prevent incidents in schools, officials shared the importance of mental health awareness and what sort of resources and programs Stafford has to offer.

"I think everyone has recognized and noticed an uptick in people in crisis, the levels of stress and anxiety since Covid first began has become palpable and we see it on a regular basis," Stafford Police Chief Tom Dellane said. He said there were two recent Stafford threats dealt with; a student making threats over social media and a minor bringing a gun to one of the local parks.

"Both of those incidents served to heighten the awareness that we as a community need to do something to take action to preserve and maintain the mental health of our community," Dellane said. "Particularly, our most vulnerable citizens, our students."

Dellane encouraged anyone who seems concerning or alarming behavior to alert officials, as is what happened with the two recent Stafford incidents. He said the same thing at a previous Mayor's Forum. Read More: 'Say Something' If You See Concerning Behavior, Stafford Police Say

Stafford offers the On P.O.I.N.T. program, which provides mental health services to residents.

Kim Veith, from Bright Harbor Health (formerly Ocean Mental Health Services) works to provide Stafford with the On P.O.I.N.T. program.

The program was started out of a need in the community to link families with services after police interaction, Veith said.

"I think that we expect police officers a lot of times to be able to solve all problems, even if they're social-related problems, and to know an awful lot about resources in the community," Veith said. The resources are not always easy to access, though, she said. So the On P.O.I.N.T. program allows police to come and work with mental health professionals work with them, she said.

"They leave it with us, and we pick it up from there," Veith said.

Craig Henry, Southern Regional School District superintendent, shared that it is a community effort between the school and other organizations in responding to these incidents.

"The ability for Southern administration to have 24/7, 365 access to the chief of police and his team has been invaluable in our successful interventions of these last couple years," Henry said, adding that he has noticed mental health crises increasing over the past few years.

Henry said that Southern Regional has a team of educators and mental health specialists, "who through boots on the ground become aware" of issues such as a teacher alerting administration of concerning statements made in class or social media posts.

Southern Regional also added a new position titled "Mental Health Interventionist" whose job is to connect students to resources, Henry said, and to make sure these resources will actually be engaged with.

"Our services really start for every student," Jonathan White, a Southern Regional school psychologist and supervisor of high school special education, added. All staff are trained in recognizing signs of distress in students and reporting that, White said.

You can watch the full panel here.