Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) Provided by Bridgeway Center

JUNE 1, 2008

Law enforcement officers from Okaloosa and Walton Counties were invited to attend 40 hours of intense Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) 04/07/08 through 04/11/08. Those attending were 23 Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office deputies, 3 Department of Corrections officers, 2 Adult Protective Services investigators, 3 dispatchers, and the Forensic Coordinator from Cope Center in Walton County.

The training, hosted by Bev Barbarisi, LMHC, Forensic Community Relations Director for Bridgeway Center, Inc. is designed to:

• Reduce the stigma related to mental illness.
• Treat mental illness as a disease, not a crime.
• Enable officers to understand and communicate effectively and safely with mentally ill individuals, especially during a period of crisis
• Provide officers the resources to appropriately refer people into the mental health/substance abuse treatment system.
• Increase officer, consumer, and community safety.

Another CI Session is planned for December 8-12, 2008.