The article discusses a personal experience of the author, a peer specialist in Harlem, who faced a traumatic response from law enforcement when seeking help during an emotional crisis. Instead of receiving compassion, the author was handcuffed and taken to a psychiatric emergency program characterized by chaos and neglect. This experience highlights the failures of coercive interventions and advocates for a community-based crisis response system that prioritizes trust and lived experience over punitive measures.
I was confronted and surrounded by four NYPD officers, at my workplace, which felt like a punishment for feeling too much.
At Lincoln, I was processed into what I call 'The Loony Bin courtroom'-a holding area where people in crisis are warehoused until a psychiatrist determines their fate.
Instead of care, I was met with force. I was paraded out of my workplace like a criminal.
Coercive interventions are costly, traumatic, and ineffective. Community-rooted care, grounded in trust and lived experience, prevents crisis instead of punishing it.
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