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WAGONER – District 27 has appointed an investigator to partner with a local nonprofit to help with the effects from mental health and substance abuse issues.
“With the widespread impact to our communities caused by the opioid and gentanyl crisis, as well as the need for improved access to resources for mental health, District 27 has designated one of our investigators to serve as a mental health crisis response officer,” District Attorney Jack Thorp said. “Todd Riggs will work with the WRAP Project to help link individuals to the services they need. We are going to work together to do anything and everything possible to help end this epidemic in our part of Oklahoma.”
District 27 includes Cherokee, Wagoner, Sequoyah and Adair counties.
Working to Recover, Assist, and Prevent is a nonprofit organization that provides people in the community with a wide variety of services, including recovery classes, life skills classes, resources for domestic violence, and other programs. It also connects people with needed services, such as rehab and counseling, that are provided elsewhere.
The executive director of WRAP, Terri Garrett, said WRAP performs many community outreach and education and works with existing mental health court programs. In Wagoner County, WRAP has helped to improve the completion rate for participants in mental health court.
While WRAP works to link people with the services and resources they need, Garrett said law enforcement and the criminal justice system are an integral part of helping the people in the community.
“We can flood the community with education, resources, and encouragement, but there has to be some kind of enforcement,” Garrett said. “People need to be accountable. We also want to build rapport between law enforcement and the people they serve.”
As a mental health crisis response officer, Riggs will be able to respond to situations in which a person is having a mental health crisis, working to not only resolve that incident but to identify the help that person needs. He will also provide training to other law enforcement officers in how to handle such situations.
“[Riggs] is definitely a pioneer in trying to build community relations,” Garrett said.
Riggs will be working with Mental Health Court participants, doing follow ups with them and performing drug tests, as well as working with WRAP to direct people to much-needed services and bridging the gaps between law enforcement and members of the public.
“For most of these people, if they’ve had interactions with law enforcement before, it didn’t end well,” Riggs said. “We are trying to show people that we care and, if they’re needing help, we’ll do what we can to get them help. We’ll work with these people to find them the help they need rather than just locking them up.”
Garrett said WRAP also provides education and prevention efforts for opioids and stimulants in District 27 and has Narcan and lockboxes on hand in case anyone needs one.
“This partnership with WRAP is unlike anything that I’m aware of in the state of Oklahoma,” Thorp said. “Having Todd Riggs as a mental health crisis response officer will be great for our communities. There are many people throughout this district who are struggling with substance abuse or mental health issues, and it is wonderful to be able to get them the help they need.”
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