Strike Team CIT Training (9/29, 10/6)

At the heart of every CIT Training are professionals who voluntarily accept the responsibility of preserving human dignity and life with safe, effective, and compassionate responses to people experiencing mental health or cognitive health crisis.  Graduates of the CIT Academy leave the school with the skills and tools to achieve positive outcomes. When a mental health consumer or their family member interacts with a member of the Crisis Intervention Team, he or she can breathe a little bit easier knowing they are working with someone who gets it.

Upon successful completion of both parts of the CIT Curriculum, participants will receive certification and be pinned as a CIT Responder.

Part 1: CIT curriculum is taught over 4 sessions (9/22, 9/25, 9/29, and 10/6) by specialists from the law enforcement, behavioral health and consumer/advocate fields. This intensive training focuses on practical application in real life scenarios, with 16 hours of class time augmented with 4 hours of practical assignments to be completed in between each class. Upon completion of the four sessions, officers/first responders are better equipped to:

• Understand common signs and symptoms of mental illnesses and co-occurring disorders as they present in real life scenarios;

• Recognize when those signs and symptoms represent a crisis, sub-acute, or support-only situation;

• Safely de-escalate individuals experiencing crises, secure the scene, and take all complicating factors into consideration;

• Successfully and effectively navigate complex community resources and diversion strategies for long-term success.

Part 2 of the CIT curriculum is taught on site and will resume when health guidelines allow for in-person training.  In Part 2, participants complete site visits, engage in the Hearing Voices simulator, conduct basic and advanced strategies practicum, complete complex crisis intervention strategies scenarios with feedback panel, and participate in the CIT Responder pinning ceremony.