The Bureau of Justice Assistance requested updates to the Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) curriculum, developed under a previous BJA NTTAC engagement. CNA was selected to continue this work, through surveys of national CIT programs, reviews by subject matters experts, and a pilot training. The pilot training occurred in December 2017, and CNA used that pilot to continue making revisions and updates to the curriculum materials. A final version of the CIT curriculum was delivered to BJA in April 2018.
Upon the completion of the ADDIE process for curriculum development for the BJA National Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Curriculum, entitled Effective Community Responses to Mental Health Crisis, CNA proposes up to three additional pilot training deliveries to gather further feedback from cities. Since research on CIT approaches suggest increases in officer safety (Compton, et. al., 2008; Dupont & Cochran, 2000) and decreases in police use of force, violence and injuries (Compton, et. al., 2009; Skeem & Bibeau, 2008), delivery of the national CIT curriculum to VRN cities as additional pilot sites fits nicely into VRN’s programmatic goals. The 40-hour Effective Community Responses to Mental Health Crisis course was developed as a free resource to agencies that wish to use it in order to expand the reach of effective crisis intervention strategies to law enforcement agencies and encourage the development of mental health community-law enforcement partnership teams throughout the United States. There are approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States, yet estimates of active community-law enforcement mental health partnerships number below 3,000. This course was designed to be customizable to any jurisdiction that wishes to use it. Successful and effective community-based responses to mental health crisis rely upon partnerships. We recognize that all communities are unique and all have different resources. This course requires a team of local instructors and trainers who work to customize the material so it is relevant to agency’s jurisdiction, problems, and resources. Over the next seven months, CNA will continue to pilot-test the curriculum in order to gather further feedback, ideas, suggestions and comments from different communities around the nation. CNA will also hold a focus group to gather further feedback from stakeholders. Based on the feedback from VRN jurisdictions, CNA will further refine and update the curriculum, producing a “final” copy suitable for posting on BJA’s website for free download for any jurisdiction that wishes to use it. Please note that most CIT curricula currently in use around the country are updated consistently, never quite achieving a “final” status due to the ever-changing nature of our communities and the mental health issues they face. It is our hope that the national CIT curriculum will also be updated and improved consistently moving forward.
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