Crisis Intervention: Overview of Effective Models

Course Overview: Crisis Intervention: Overview of Effective Models, an eLearning course, offers insights and practical guidance on the applicability of Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT). Mental health support and responding to those in crisis are two of the paramount public safety challenges facing our nation’s communities. A significant aspect of these challenges is the delivery of appropriate and effective services to those who find themselves in crisis.

Faced with alarming rates of psychological distress within communities across the nation, first responders and community service providers are turning to the CIT Model for a collaborative, structured, and coordinated response. The course addresses the rise in mental health crises, the applicability of the CIT Model in crisis response, and next steps and resources for CIT implementation. Gain perspective on these topics from law enforcement officers, mental-health practitioners, and mental-health advocates.

Learning Objectives:

• Examine key aspects of the current mental health crisis
• Recognize the range of crisis response options and models
• Describe the ways in which CIT implementation may benefit police, mental health agencies, and the public
• Identify the goals and desired outcomes related to the CIT Model
• Examine the community-based and collaborative dynamics of the CIT Model
• Identify the relationship between CIT and community policing
• Explain the partnership between law enforcement and mental health agencies in a CIT program
• Explore the opportunities to build program capacity through stakeholder engagement and feedback
• Illustrate the characteristics of effective crisis response systems
• Describe practices that may assist partnership agencies in effective implementation planning, community engagement, and response to challenges
• Consider the composition of a crisis response steering committee
• Highlight pre-planning considerations such as funding, training, personnel, and identifying resources
• Identify key national, CIT, and mental health organizations and resources
• Introduce the CIT Programs Best Practices Guide and the CIT ASSIST Resource Center
• Introduce the web-based supplemental courses that complement this course

Target Audience: Decision makers, policy planners, and leadership in law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Cooperative Partners: This tuition-free online training was developed by the National Center for Policing Innovation (NCPI) and was originally supported by cooperative agreement 15JCOPS-21-GK-02306-SPPS by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

Learning Hours: 4 hours including the pre-test and post-test.