STATE COLLEGE — On Friday, June 5, local police and other first responders gathered at the Ferguson Township Municipal Building to hold a graduation ceremony for trainees who completed the Crisis Intervention Team program.
June’s CIT graduation ceremony marks not only the end of this session, but also the end of the 15th year of the program. Over the past 15 years, Centre County CIT has facilitated 29 training sessions, trained over 530 first responders, and has become an exemplar for similar programs throughout the Commonwealth and the nation.
This CIT session included trainees from State College Police Department, Ferguson Township Police Department, Spring Township Police Department, Penn State Police and Public Safety, Centre County Correctional Facility, Centre County Emergency Communications, Centre LifeLink EMS, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Union County Probation, and Snyder County Children & Youth.
Beginning in 2011, the CIT program’s mission is to divert people experiencing behavioral, emotional, or mental health crises from unnecessarily navigating the criminal justice system when possible. In instances where diversion is not feasible, the goal is to lessen the impact of the criminal justice system on people who are experiencing crises.
The CIT program is specialized training offered to first responders and sessions are held twice per year. Across 40 hours of sessions, trainees learn law-enforcement-based skills that enhance crisis intervention and de-escalation, especially in situations involving people experiencing a mental health crisis.
Some of the training program topics include:
Recognizing and understanding specific signs and symptoms of mental illness
Understanding how mental health affects various segments of the population
Understanding the effects and side effects of psychotropic medications
Basic and advanced verbal de-escalation techniques
To learn more about the Crisis Intervention Team and their related efforts, such as the Blue Envelope Project, visit www.centrecountypa.gov/725/Centre-County-Crisis-Intervention-Team-C.
