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Increasing community involvement, raising
mental health awareness, and continuing education are the
joint goals of many agencies in the Omaha area. Due to the
dedication and perseverance of many community agencies in
joining forces to achieve this remarkable goal, the Heartland
Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Council has formed. CIT has
been established to enhance law enforcement’s response
toward individuals with mental illness.
The CIT program is a cooperative community
partnership involving law enforcement agencies, mental health
service providers, mental health consumers, and families.
The original CIT program was developed through the National
Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) out of Tennessee, and
over the past 15 years has spread nationwide.
Through participation in this program, CIT
police officers learn to recognize common forms of mental
illness and to utilize the most effective means of communicating
with people undergoing crisis. The officers are trained to
de-escalate the individuals in crisis and allow the consumer
to participate in the decision-making regarding their treatment.
CIT officers must successfully complete 40 hours of training
to become certified and must complete 24 hours of training
per year to maintain certification.
The Heartland CIT Council is pleased to
be hosting the third round of CIT training February 12th through
the 16th.
For additional information
please visit the NAMI CIT Technical Assistance web site at
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=CIT2.
The website offers a variety of resources including toolkits,
articles, and related links for those interested in building
new or expanding upon existing CIT programs.
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