Mental Health and NSW Police: Screening of Brutal Force and Statement to Parliament.
Tuesday 23 June 6pm - 8pm AEST
Theatrette, NSW Parliament
Sydney NSW, Australia
and ONLINE.
Event by BEING Mental Health Consumers and Carers NSW.
On Budget Night, join an event asking the Australian Government to make a decisive effort to address the crisis of public responses to people in mental health emergency.
This event remembers three of their stories:
Jodi Knott: a 48-year-old woman who lived with schizophrenia and was experiencing a psychotic episode. Instead of providing care, the responding officers brutally beat, pepper sprayed and arrested Jodi, in what a District Judge called an act of "gratuitous cruelty". Jodi was unarmed and completely naked at the time of the attack. She is remembered by her cousins Nichole and Sharee.
Courtney Topic: a 22-year-old woman living with undiagnosed schizophrenia, experiencing what a coroner later found was most likely a psychotic episode. Concerned bystanders called police after seeing her distressed and holding a knife outside a Hoxton Park Hungry Jack's. Within 41 seconds of arriving, officers pepper-sprayed her, attempted to use a faulty taser, then shot her dead. She is remembered by her parents, Leesa and Ron.
Jesse Deacon: a 43-year-old man experiencing an acute mental health crisis, self-harming alone in his Glebe home. A concerned neighbour called triple-zero asking for an ambulance; police were sent instead, forced entry, and after a taser failed to subdue him, an officer shot him dead. The officers who responded had received no mandatory training in responding to mental health crises. He is remembered by his parents Michael and Judy, and his sister Lucinda.
These stories are as heartbreaking as they are preventable.
Activating change.
We will be joined on Tuesday by the victims’ families, including Jodi Knott’s cousins, Nichole and Sharee; Courtney's mother Leesa and Jesse's mother Judy.
Together, we will be releasing a joint statement alongside more than 12 mental health and human rights organisations, detailing our shared vision of what mental health care and justice could look like in NSW.
To discuss how to enact this change, BEING will have a panel:
Giancarlo de Vera, CEO of BEING - Mental Health Consumers;
Dr Amanda Cohn MLC, Greens Spokesperson for Health and Mental Health;
Dr Ian Korbel, Chair of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) – NSW Branch;
Judy Deacon, mother of Jesse Deacon and mental health advocate
Join this event to be part of the change.
Join BEING - Mental Health Consumers and Amanda Cohn MLC for a screening of Brutal Force and a panel discussion on the reforms required to ensure the next person who reaches a moment of crisis is met with care, dignity and safety.
https://events.humanitix.com/mental-health-and-nsw-police-screening-of-brutal-force