Opinion: I Needed Support. I Got Handcuffs.

Coercive interventions are costly traumatic and ineffective Community-rooted care grounded in trust and lived experience is how we build a system that prevents emergency instead of punishing it Outside Lincoln Clinical Center in the Bronx Photo by Adi Talwar Last month I was in Harlem the very society I serve as a peer specialist when I discovered myself spiraling after days of little sleep and emotional overload sparked by up-to-date work with a client in situation My thoughts were racing I was emotionally raw I was not a danger to myself or anyone else What I needed was rest and compassion Instead I was confronted and surrounded by four NYPD officers at my workplace which felt like a punishment for feeling too much Despite explaining my state and clearly asking for the city s B-HEARD association New York s alternative emergency response scheme that sends trained mental robustness professionals not police I was handcuffed and forcibly taken to the Comprehensive Psychiatric Crisis Project CPEP at Lincoln Hospital I was not violent I was not suicidal I was overstimulated overwhelmed and scared But my emotions were met not with care but with force I was paraded out of my workplace like a criminal At Lincoln I was processed into what I call The Loony Bin courtroom a holding area where people in emergency are warehoused until a psychiatrist determines their fate There was no sunlight The air was stale No quiet Just chaos people screaming others talking specific to themselves certain maybe to me urinating on the floor defecating on chairs sandwiches thrown at the walls a TV you could barely hear mounted above a phone no one longed to use One man slammed his head for hours calling out for his mother Another person was pinned down by two staff and once defenseless punched And I watched one woman whisper the words sufferer rights with all the strength she had left before she disappeared and never returned When I shouted for accountability I was punished with a forced injection Haldol and Ativan despite my explicit health warning that I could not tolerate Haldol My protest was ignored I was silenced sedated and erased The bitter irony That day I was scheduled to testify before the City Council advocating for peers on mental healthcare emergency teams Instead I unveiled myself inside the very system I was trying to change And the worst part is I am not alone I have more patronage than bulk ever get Every day across New York State people in emotional distress are met with coercion instead of care Especially those already experiencing high levels of trauma people in altered states people living on the street people with mental soundness concerns people of color We are labeled dangerous when we are absolutely in need We must do better And that starts with our elected leaders investing differently Leaders at both the city and state levels are moving us in precisely the wrong direction The final state budget is poised to expand involuntary commitment authority making it easier for what happened to me to happen to others Our current mayor and mayoral hopefuls alike continue to advocate for forceful interventions rather than voluntary community-based care What we need is sustained funding for peer-led programs housing-first models culturally competent services and alternatives to urgency rooms and police The city can start by including a baseline budget allocation of million to ensure competitive compensation for peer specialists to staff the city s mental robustness emergency response teams including B-HEARD This is not just the right thing to do it s the smart thing Coercive interventions are costly traumatic and ineffective Community-rooted care grounded in trust and lived experience is how we build a system that prevents emergency instead of punishing it I wasn t dangerous I was in danger of being silenced dismissed and harmed by the very system meant to help I m calling on our leaders at every level of authorities but particularly our city elected agents who are actively crafting our next city budget please do not double down on a system that fails people like me Invest in one that sees us hears us and helps us heal We deserve care Not cuffs Alex Brass is a New Yorker from the Upper West Side and advocate who works in Harlem serving vulnerable populations on the street He identifies as a peer someone who is in recovery from his own mental robustness struggles and problematic substance use and is the Founder of ItAintDOPENYC on a mission to curb the overdose dilemma The post Opinion I Needed Sponsorship I Got Handcuffs appeared first on City Limits