Colorado State University has become one of the first universities in the country to add a mental health expert to its campus police department.
CSUPD joins Fort Collins Police Services as the two agencies in Larimer County that currently offer mental health correspondents on their police force.
Thanks to a 50/50 partnership with health provider UCHealth, the campus police department will provide another level of service to people on and around the CSU campus.
Francesca Raynaert, a behavioral health expert, was recently hired by UCHealth and CSU to serve CSU students, staff and visitors with her expertise.
“A university is a very important population to target,” Raynaert said.
Raynaert has only been working with the department for a month, but has already found that his services are highly dependent.
“Almost every day I go out to take calls and offer support,” Raynaert said. “College-age students are often away from home for the first time and experience a lot of change and growth.”
Raynaert is not a sworn officer, nor does he carry a firearm or other defensive weapons. Instead, she is referred to calls with CSUPD who may be better served by a mental health expert rather than an officer who is no more trained in how to handle many behavioral health related situations.
“The goal of having correspondents is to avoid unnecessary mental health-related hospitalizations and incarcerations. The goal is to stabilize,” Raynaert said.
CSUPD Chief Jay Callaghan said bringing Raynaert on staff was important when he recently joined the agency, noting and admitting that his officers are often not the best people to respond to specific calls for help. However, before Raynaert, they were forced to handle situations where health providers would have been more helpful.
“It’s such a vital resource that police can use,” Callaghan said. “This is about providing the best resources we can to the CSU community.”
The students, staff, and others Raynaert comes into contact with are not only supported at the time, but he also takes the time to follow up with them to ensure their continued success.
“We’re not always the best resource for someone who may be in crisis. If we can provide a subject matter expert to handle mental health crises, then we’ll accept that and move forward with that initiative,” Callaghan said.
