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Crisis Intervention Team training makes a difference
Creating Community
They respond to calls where a person may be experiencing a loss of control of symptoms of a mental illness, or feeling so depressed that they want to kill themselves. Crisis Intervention Team members are specially trained officers who participate in a rigorous training program to develop skills that allow them to de-escalate high-intensity situations, diverting people from jail and into treatment when appropriate. The program contributes significantly to both officer and citizen safety. A lack of ability to cope in the moment may place a person experiencing crisis in the position of endangering themselves or others. They may be at serious risk of injury or even death.
The program nurtures an effective partnership between behavioral-health services and law enforcement. On May 8, graduation was held for the 2009 class of law-enforcement officers who successfully completed this year's 40-hour training program. Participants in the class represented Durango Police Department, La Plata County Sheriff's Office, Fort Lewis College Police Department, Archuleta County Sheriff's Department, Bayfield Marshal's Office, Ignacio Police Department, Southern Ute Tribal Police, Montrose Police Department and Delta County Sheriff's Office.
Training includes instruction in de-escalation skills, psychopharmacology, specific mental illnesses, substance abuse, officer safety and other special topics. The learning experience also involves participants spending nine hours in role-play practice utilizing new skills with professional role players from the Crisis Co. Inc.
Two formal teams are active in La Plata County at the Durango Police Department and La Plata County Sheriff's Office. And other law-enforcement agencies in Southwest Colorado send officers to training so they can serve as "specialists" within their departments.
The program brings clarity to an officer's role as a first responder in situations involving behavioral-health issues, and provides a different set of tools to successfully resolve the situation.
A collaborative partnership has evolved among local law-enforcement agencies, Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center, consumers of mental-health services and their family members. Since the program began in 2003, there has been a significant increase in successful de-escalation of people with a mental illness at the scene by law-enforcement officers.
Local law-enforcement agencies face the daily challenge of working with individuals experiencing a crisis. In the past, many people with mental illness were jailed each year because of confrontations with law-enforcement officers, which escalated the initial crisis.
This no longer is the case. Crisis Intervention Team of Southwest Colorado provides an opportunity in all of our communities to increase the likelihood of resolving crisis situations without the use of force and assist those in a behavioral-health crisis to find the resources which can best assist them.
Linda Lute, LAC, MAC is the executive vice president of Specialty Behavioral Health for Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center.
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