People served by the mental health program “Opening Doors to Recovery” shared their stories Thursday during a collaborative summit on mental health at Georgia Southern University’s Gene Bishop Fieldhouse.
The summit was to update those involved and interested in the program on progress, said June DiPolito, the CEO of Pineland Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities/Addictive Diseases, which was the host. Opening Doors to Recovery is a Pineland program.
The program began two years ago when several people formed a group to address how mentally ill consumers are handled when law enforcement is involved. There are better ways to handle issues of those with mental illnesses than sending them to jail or a hospital, she said.
“We do come together and try to work on (issues and challenges) involving mentally disabled,” she said. “This is a meeting to determine where we are regarding the progress.”
Opening Doors was formed when there was a threat of Savannah’s Georgia Regional Hospital closing. Advocates for the mentally ill wrote a grant, and Bristol-Myers Squibb gave $2 million towards forming the program, DiPolito said. Other organizations have also helped fund the initiative.
In a world in which 5 to 7 percent of adults have mental illness, and when more Georgians die from suicide than homicide, there is a need for an advocacy program to intervene and get help for those people, she said.
Suicide is the ninth-leading cause of death in the state, and 44 percent of Georgia counties have a higher suicide rate than the national average.
“These individuals need treatment as opposed to incarceration,” DiPolito said.
Since 2009, the effort to bring law enforcement into the mix and to train officers in crisis intervention training has worked, she said.
Georgia Southern University Police Chief Mike Russell said, “This is something that just makes sense, and something we genuinely need to do.”
There is a plan to host crisis intervention classes within his department. Quoting his own grandmother, Russell said, “If you can’t help people when they need help, you won’t ever be much help.”
Nora Lott Hayes, the Opening Doors project director, said so many mentally ill people end up in “jails, hospitals, prisons or homeless – recycled mentally ill, just fall through the gaps.”
Opening Doors consists of several three-member teams, one in each district served by Pineland, and has a mental illness professional, a family member of a mentally ill consumer, and a peer – someone who suffers from mental illness. The professional is called a “community navigation specialist” and the team helps mentally ill consumers stay out of jail and hospitals, instead learning ways to be independent, she said.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan said there have been 5,000 law enforcement officers in the state who have been trained, and more will be trained. He spoke about programs through the Georgia Crime Information Center in which officers can run a background check, identify people with whom they are dealing who may suffer mental illness, and be able to contact their navigation specialist.
During the summit, several Opening Doors consumers talked about how the program has helped them. One man became emotional as he shared how the program has kept him out of jail and involved in his own recovery. Another consumer talked about how she is not a part of a team that helps others who suffer from the same illness as she.
Bulloch County Sheriff Lynn Anderson said his department has “come a long way” in working with Pineland and Opening Doors and in training deputies in crisis intervention.
“I could not operate without Pineland,” the sheriff said. “We get people who don’t need to be (in jail), and now we can get them out and get them where they need to be.”
He said deputies who have completed the crisis intervention classes are grateful and appreciate the knowledge they gain, which helps them deal more efficiently and with compassion when working with mentally ill citizens.
Having a mother in her 90s who has Alzheimer’s disease and an adult son with disabilities, Anderson said, “I have lived with it and I work with it. I understand (mental illness.)”
Bulloch County Commission Chairman Garrett Nevil; Statesboro Mayor Joe Brannen; Sen. Jack Hill, R-Reidsville; and several other local officials were present for the summit.

Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at (912) 489-9414.