NAMI Speaker Night discusses Crisis Intervention Team

Hunt	Shahin

By Beth Ranagan

DOVER-FOXCROFT – On May 26, several local NAMI members and friends were fortunate to hear about the history, training, role and outcomes of Crisis Intervention Team training (CIT). Ted Hunt, crisis intervention specialist, and Maged Shahin, member of the Mayo Regional Hospital’s Emergency Medical Services, enthusiastically presented this information.

In 1987 two police officers in Memphis, Tenn. responded to a psychotic person and, unfortunately, shot him.  At that time, officers lacked the skills to de-escalate the behavior of a person in crisis.  “Nothing good happens until there is a body,” Hunt said.  Out of that incident grew the NAMI CIT training program for first responders. “The program is now in 47 states and nine countries,” according to Hunt.

The CIT training began in Piscataquis County 13 years ago when Hunt began teaching the weeklong, 40-hour program. Police officers, as well as EMS personnel and correction officers, can participate in the program if the agency for which they work elects to send them for training. Instructors, along with Hunt, are psychiatrists, mental health clinicians, nurses, previously-trained police officers, family members of those with mental illness and those with mental illness who are in recovery. Professionals relate medical and treatment information. Others relate personal experiences regarding mental illness and crisis. All information contributes to class participants’ understanding of what the person in crisis is feeling.

“Approximately 150 first responders have received the training in Piscataquis County,” reported Hunt.

Shahin, a medical emergency first responder, has found the CIT training “very valuable” in his work. In Piscataquis County, the ambulance ride can be very long. “It is important to know how to communicate with a mentally ill person in crisis in the ambulance,”  Maged explained.  

The CIT training helped him to learn how to speak to such a patient. “We talk quietly to them, crouching to eye level,” Shahin described. “We ask them what they would like to be called.” He emphasized, “It is important to find the patient’s trigger and to find what calms him down.”   

All NAMI teachings focus on talking to the person behind the illness symptoms. According to Shahin, the EMS staff will sit with mentally ill patients until they are seen in the emergency department. Every effort is made to help them achieve equilibrium and a feeling of safety.

Studies have shown CIT training outcomes to be positive. There is a decrease in officer injuries, a decrease in the use of force, a decrease in the use of seclusion and restraints in the emergency department, a decrease in arrest rates of folks with mental illness and an increased compliance with community services. Hunt said, “CIT training is more of a transformation than a training for participants.” He finds that “relationships are the key” among multiple agencies and between a first responder and an individual in crisis.

NAMI Piscataquis County’s support group for family members, friends, and those in recovery with mental illness meets the last Tuesday of each month from 6:30-8 p.m. in the Borestone Room at Mayo Regional Hospital.  Contact www.nami.piscataquis@gmail.com for more information.