KENNEBUNK – Rachel Schlein has been Kennebunk Police Department’s contracted behavioral health liaison for about a year. She has been riding along on calls and following up when a ride-along is not an immediate option, seeing where she can help someone who is in distress.

Now, Schlein, who was recently hired by the town part-time, is joined by two others. Melissa Mederios was hired as a part-time behavioral health liaison and joining them for about 18 hours a week until May is Christine Constant, who is completing her master’s degree in social work at the University of New England.

So, what does a behavioral health liaison do?

Here, the mission is twofold; to help Kennebunk residents who may be experiencing a crisis,  and officer wellness, where a police officer or fire rescue member might be in need of someone to listen as stress and anxiety mounts after a particularly grim call.

“First responders go through their career putting stones in a backpack, and they’re not taught how to take them out,” said Police Chief Bob MacKenzie.

The officer wellness program here is affiliated with a larger peer support team in York County, where officers can talk to each other or to a clinician, said Mackenzie.

These days, it is a practice that is encouraged, to help lighten the weight of those stones in the backpack, and perhaps remove them altogether.

Schlein said liaisons interact with people in the community experiencing a mental health crisis, with in some sort of family turmoil; or helping someone who needs links to resources like housing or heating aid and the like.

It is a matter of seeing what people need, offering resources and being a supportive listener, she said in a prior interview.

And there is plenty of work to go around.

Constant, who recently rode along with an officer to one of the schools,  said she enjoys the interaction and the ever-changing situations that help keep her engaged.

“I like the unpredictability,” said Constant, the police department’s third intern from the University of New England.

The pandemic has brought out mental health issues and anxiety, the liaisons said.

MacKenzie said just last week, the department dealt with two situations. In one case, an individual was taken to hospital in protective custody; the other situation was resolved.

Mederios, who earned a bachelor’s degree in social and behavioral health sciences, is a former child protective caseworker with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, and later worked for the Maine Judicial Branch at Biddeford District Court as an administrative assistant clerk.

What was it about the new job that is appealing?

“I’m very passionate about helping others, and I come from a police family, so this is a great position,” said Mederios, noting the dual community and first responder aspects of the job.

 

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