KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The City of Knoxville helped organize a training class on de-escalation tactics for downtown workers and residents, addressing concerns over a rising number of concerning interactions with people experiencing mental health or drug-induced crises.
The training, held Wednesday morning at The Mill and Mine, featured speakers from the McNabb Center and sometimes pointed questions about how to appropriately deal with people — many possibly experiencing homelessness — who need help.
It's a situation A Dopo co-owner Brian Strutz and his restaurant staff encounter on a weekly basis.
"Since the pandemic, there have been more issues," he said. "I feel like aggressive behavior, and I mean aggressive where it’s bordering on the lines of threatening, is happening more."
While he said his staff often work to maintain positive relationships with people who live in the streets around the restaurant — giving out power bars, water and access to the restroom — situations occasionally escalate and require first-responder intervention.
"You won’t hear me say as a business owner that this is hurting business, I think it’s just hurting," he said.
He said staff felt the same and were frustrated by feeling like they didn't know how to help.
Strutz hired a social worker to train his staff on de-escalation techniques — and shared word the success with the city, partially inspiring Wednesday's broader training.
"We found it was really successful, our employees expressed a lot of gratitude for it, they felt empowered. They had more tools in their toolbelt for when the next situation might arise," he said.
That was the goal shared by the McNabb Center's Senior Director of Intensive Outpatient Programming, Candace Allen, when she spoke at the Wednesday event.
"What are some things that you can do that will help that situation not go up and escalate? Mybe level things out and resolve the situation that’s right in front of you at that time," she said. "You know you’re not going to solve everyone’s problems."
The training, attended by around 80 people, is a first for the city and part of a broader effort to combat rising homelessness, said Rick Emmett, Knoxville's Downtown and Urban Core Coordinator.
"I think this is training that has been needed for a good long while," he said. "I think we’re going to end up having other events, probably with other messages."
He said the messages will be tailored specifically at residents or certain types of businesses.
"We’re happy to see things are being done to address it," Strutz said. "We don’t pretend to ourselves that this is going to solve things long term."
Allen said she hoped people left the training with some basic tips.
"A lot of it is not what you say but how you say it, the tone of your voice, your nonverbal skills," she said.
She urged people who encounter someone experiencing an emotional crisis to practice active listening, avoid using phrases like "I understand" and said people should not question a person's reality if they're experiencing hallucinations.
She said calling 911 and asking for Knoxville Police to respond with a crisis-trained officer or a co-response social worker is often the best and quickest way to direct a person in crisis toward resources in the community.
"What harm could it do to understand these situations, because they will continue to come. If anyone thinks this issue is going to resolve itself anytime soon, they’re living in an alternate universe," Strutz said.