A very cool and completely logical thing is happening in Denver
Also, a movie recommendation, a book recommendation, and a give yourself a friggin' break recommendation
Police officers in various parts of the country have been training in non-violent resolution techniques for a while now. Is it successful? Depends who you ask, I’m sure. In Denver, they’re going what feels like a step further and it seems to be pretty successful indeed.
Under the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program, health care workers are dispatched in lieu of police when responding to incidents involving issues with mental health, poverty, homelessness or substance abuse. STAR providers only respond to incidents in which there is no evidence of criminal activity, disturbance, weapons, threats, violence, injuries or "serious" medical needs.
The health care workers went on 748 calls in the first six months, made zero arrests and needed police help zero times. They just helped people.
Pazen recalled one case in which an individual was complaining of their feet hurting. Under typical circumstances, Pazen said, an ambulance, police and maybe a firetruck would have been dispatched to the scene. Instead, workers equipped with food, water, and hygiene products handled the situation.
"They needed shoes, so [the STAR] team just bought the guy a new pair of shoes," Pazen said. "The typical answer to that would have been to take that person to the hospital. Imagine what that would have cost in response. Imagine what that would have cost in medical bills, for the physician to say the guy needs a new pair of shoes."
I’m not a Christian and this story is a secular one but it feels like this is the way Christianity is supposed to work. If you show up looking for a fight, you can usually find one. If you show up looking to help, you can usually do that instead.
Meanwhile, in Austin, 911 operators will soon be asking callers if they need help from police, fire, EMS, or mental health services.
Been cold here.
Just like always this time of year. And every year, I think, “This is stupid. People shouldn’t live here.” Couple of years ago, I didn’t say that when it was -27 because I could find no words and had a lot of screaming to do. But mostly, yeah, I say this about my home of the last 13 years, a place I’ve often raved about. And then spring and summer come around and the raving recommences and I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather live.
But this year, it’s been so much worse. I feel more doomed and trapped than ever.
Also, and this is connected, I promise, I’m pretty slow at assembling clues. Every movie twist absolutely blows my mind. The Crying Game reveal? WHAT?! The Sixth Sense? YOU ARE KIDDING ME! And on and on. Because I’ve been married to Jill since 1806, I’ve seen a lot of twist movies with her and she’s the kind of person who figures out the twist waaaay in advance. So I’m stunned and I look over at her agog and she gives me a little sad smile. Doesn’t mean I’m stupid, I hope, just that I’m slow on the uptake on clues. I’d be a bad detective.
Anyway, there was one huge clue for why this winter is so rough. Covid! Have you heard about this covid thing? It’s why winter is so tough this year. It’s why you’re tired all the time. It’s why the people you love are driving you crazy and why, trust me on this one, you’re driving them just as crazy.
The dang pestilence has been going on so long that it feels like a more rooted reality than it is. And we’re used to it enough that when things are all donked up, we think WE are the aberration. We are the spanner in the works. Maybe some of us are sometimes but I think we could all do well to remember the mantra, “It’s not me. It’s them.” Repeat as needed.
Incidentally, a movie recommendation. The Kid Detective is available to rent online and we really enjoyed it over here. At my house.
The premise: Abe (Adam Brody) was the beloved and celebrated kid detective in his hometown, solving mysteries of the Hardy Boys or Encyclopedia Brown variety. Now he’s 32, mostly broke, hungover, and going nowhere. Then he’s challenged to solve a new kind of case: murder.
The story is played out like a film noir (lots of deadpan hardboiled line deliveries) but elements of kid detective work linger. A local group of toughs is called the Red Shoe Gang. Abe sneaks into people’s homes to gather clues, which is common in kid detective books but completely illegal everywhere else.
There are some ugly plot points and some violence, not a good one for kids.
In the first group of interviews for the new show (two YouTubers, an author/monologist, a very famous comedian, a well-known public radio person, a journalist, and a musician/comedian), I found myself bringing up the issue of trauma a lot. To me, the ratio between its influence and its recognition is enormous.
I talk about this in my book. Trauma is when you experience something that is too large and dangerous for your mind to feel safe, so the mind just swallows it and seals it up. That doesn’t mean it goes away, it just messes you up in strange and covert ways down the line.
I don’t refer to the coming covid mental health crisis as a tidal wave. Tidal waves pass. This will be a tsunami.
If there’s one book I can recommend on the issue of trauma, it’s The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk. I wish I wrote this book and I wish my name was Bessel Van Der Kolk.
Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity.
