Scioto County Sheriff’s Deputies spend a great deal of their time dealing with individuals suffering from mental health issues, and lately, many of those individuals have been children.
Over the weekend, officers were called in multiple times to prevent tragedies.
The first call came in during the wee hours of Friday morning when a teacher notified officers that they were tipped off to a child considering self-harm. When the teacher had no luck contacting the child or its parents, they turned to the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office for help.
Officers managed to contact the child and parent. The child denied considering self-harm but the parent said they would keep an eye on them, as they were going through a rough time in the family.
Just before 10 a.m., officers responded to a Minford home after a caller feared her mother might harm herself. When they arrived on the scene, the woman said she wasn’t planning on hurting herself, but she was despondent over some high medical bills. She refused offers of treatment from EMS.
Portsmouth officers responded to a report of a man threatening self-harm just after 10 p.m., and the man was not happy to see them. In fact, police said he was downright hostile.
However, officers de-escalated the situation and spoke to the man about the problems he was experiencing at length. He later apologized to the officers but declined any medical help.