C.I.T. - Crisis Intervention Training

 

SPAN-GA has partnered with NAMI-GA to train Law Enforcement, EMS, Pardon and Parole, and others in Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Aftercare as well as Self-Care for Law Enforcement.

 

Sheri McGuinness, SPAN-GA's President/CEO is the author of the Understanding Suicide section of the week long CIT program. 

 

The Georgia Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Program is a dynamic collaboration of professionals committed to ensuring that persons with mental illnesses and other brain disorders receive treatment, in lieu of incarceration in most cases.

The program includes a law enforcement training component delivered via a forty-hour course curriculum approved by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council as follows:

• Classroom instructional training involving various mental health topics that address mental illnesses, developmental disabilities, and addictive diseases

• Site visits to local emergency receiving facilities and state psychiatric hospitals

• Performance-based training involving the development of de-escalation techniques and crisis intervention skills via role-play scenarios.

 

Law enforcement officers who successfully complete the course are equipped with the skills necessary to safely and effectively respond to individuals with mental health needs and in crisis.