New Mexican city and county court staff and police who deal with people with mental illness recently got a first-hand glimpse of what it might feel like to try to function with voices in your head, Kevin Buey of the Deming Headlight reports. The exercise was part of an awareness raising exercise that had the workers try to complete tasks while listening with headphones to recordings of laughing, whispering, and fast, constant talking. “We deal with a lot of people we know have mental illnesses,” Magistrate Judge Ray Baese told the Headlight. “They come in one day and they’re one person, come in another day and they’re different. Now we understand it’s not always intentional.”
Earlier this week, Buey also wrote about efforts to divert mentally ill offenders into counseling and not jail.
