NEVADA — Twenty-one law enforcement officers from across the state met at the Story County Sheriff’s Office this week to attend training that will better prepare them to handle cases involving the mentally ill.

ISU Police Capt. Gene Deisinger, who is also a licensed psychologist, served as the coordinator for the weeklong training, called Crisis Intervention Team.

Participants from several agencies attended, including officers from the Iowa State Patrol and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Deisinger said.

“[Crisis Intervention Team] is quickly becoming the standard in training for crisis intervention,” he said.

The week’s training gave officers a comprehensive overview of several topics.

Tuesday, a panel of mental health representatives from agencies throughout the state informed participants about the community resources available to them.

“The training provided background information on sources of distress,” said panel member Joyce Davidson, associate director of ISU Student Counseling Services.

Each of the panel members described approaches for dealing with individuals with mental illnesses and described where to find help, said Davidson.

“This isn’t law enforcement, this is public safety,” she said. “[Officers] need to be aware of what is likely to be expected in these situations, and how to provide an atmosphere of calmness, authority and respect.”

Part of Wednesday’s training focused on helping children cope with a mental illness.

Ames psychologist Ken Dodge advised trainees to consider anxiety when dealing with children, and said anxiety can be attributed to 30 percent of children with mental illness.

“People think, feel and do,” he said, recommending that children and adults receive specific treatment based on the differing problems each age group faces. “We can intervene with how people think and what people do, but we can’t intervene with how they feel.”

One presentation during Wednesday’s instruction came from five actors from Stigma Busters, a theater troupe that aims to dissolve the public’s misconceptions about mental illnesses. Each of the troupe’s players is affected by some mental disorder.

“We’re an improvisational theater troupe that teaches people what it’s like living with a mental illness,” director Tom Perrine explained.

Before their performance, Perrine said the stories portrayed some of the group’s actors’ real-life experiences.

“Players get together a couple of times a month to discuss the issues they want the public to be aware of,” he said.

One skit, titled “Best for the Job,” portrayed a group of employers who hired a less-qualified candidate after it was discovered the person they originally wanted to hire had a mental illness.

After their performance, each of the members revealed what mental disorder they still deal with, and offered officers some advice.

One member described his battle with paranoid schizophrenia, another told about her experiences with bipolar disorder and manic depression.

Story County Deputy Laura Judge said the actors’ personal stories were an effective part of training because “it was good to hear from their perspective. It personalizes things.”

She said seeing the troupe was the best part because it was explaining an illness in a way instructors can only describe.

“We feel the most effective way to beat stigma [surrounding mental illness] is to bring it to people face-to-face. We do that by teaching and entertaining,” said John Ogilvie, an original member of the acting group, which began in 1989.

Newcomer to the group Shiendel Collins told trainees about a past experience involving officers and gave credit to them for handling it in a way that “didn’t cause more trauma” to an already stressful situation.

Deisinger said he wanted the group to perform after seeing them last October.

It gave trainees a “unique learning opportunity” that reflected the training’s objectives of bridging gaps among officers, mental health officials and those suffering from a disorder, he said.

After Friday, the new graduates will offer Story County more personnel that provide “mutual aid” in a multi-jurisdiction community; the ideal situation should provide at least one Crisis Intervention Team-qualified officer on duty at all times, Deisinger said.