Lt. Jeffry Murphy
Title: President of MH Consultants
A 37 year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, Lt. Murphy has seen first hand the triumphs and tribulations faced by police officers. Working his way up through the ranks to Watch Commander of the Englewood District on the south side of Chicago, and then to the Research and Development branch of central administration for the Chicago Police Department, Lt. Murphy is intimately familiar with all aspects of police work. Currently he is the Disabilities Liaison as well as CIT Coordinator for the Chicago Police Department.
As a parent of a young man living with mental illness, he has faced the personal struggles of dealing with mental illness in his own family. Seven years ago, Lt. Murphy and his wife, Donna, took the Family to Family Education Course and transformed the way that they both dealt with mental illness personally and professionally.
Lt. Murphy lobbied for and was appointed the Chicago Police Department’s liaison to the Chicago Metro Area Mental Health Planning Council and its Subcommittee on Police Education. He brought the ’fire in his belly’ to this subcommittee and is responsible for a major revision and expansion of the mental health training curriculum for recruits at the Chicago Police Academy. After the revision of the existing 5 hour program, Lt. Murphy succeeded in obtaining approval for a 4-hour expansion block of training for all recruits which has been taught on a once a month basis since June of 2002. This recruit training program is jointly taught by Lt. Murphy, family members, consumers, and staff of NAMI of Greater Chicago, and mental health professionals from the Illinois Division of Mental Health.
The phenomenal success of this 3-hour block of training and Lt. Murphy’s persistent lobbying of key persons both within and outside the Chicago Police Department lead to approval for the initiation of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training for experienced police officers. After a thorough review of existing CIT curricula, Lt. Murphy gathered a team of mental health professionals, consumers and family members to help craft an effective 40-hour CIT training curriculum. This CIT training was launched in October of 2004 making Chicago the largest urban area in the country with a CIT program in place for its officers. In April, 2007, The Chicago Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team was given the President’s Award by the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (USPRA) and The Illinois Governor’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement Education. In August, 2007, Lt. Murphy was named CIT Coordinator of the Year at the Third National CIT Conference in Memphis.
The development of CIT training for the Chicago Police Department also led to the involvement of the department in the launching of the first felony Mental Health Court in the United States in April 2004. CIT officers provide an effective means of intervention with mental health court clients and judges, case managers and treatment providers, ensuring client treatment compliance.
The initial success of the Cook County Mental Health Court led to a 1.2 million dollar SAMHSA grant in September 2005, which provides for significant expansion of the Mental Health Court and CIT Training for an additional 500 Chicago Police Officers. The Community Reintegration Collaborative (CRC) involves The Cook County Circuit Court, the States Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, the Cook County Mental Health Probation Unit, Cermak Hospital Cook County Jail, TASC, Thresholds, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Chicago Police Department, working together to develop effective treatment alternatives to incarceration. This unique collaboration has been recommended by Charles Curry, Executive Director of SAMSHA, as a model for the country.
Jeff serves on several Chicago Police Department panels and is on the Board of Directors for Thresholds Services of Chicago, NAMI of Greater Chicago and CIT International.
Email: jeff@mhconsultantsinc.com