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About the Central Mass CIT-TTAC

  • Opened in 2021 and funded by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH).

  • Offers training, technical assistance, Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) development, policy and procedure development, case consultations, resource connections and more to law enforcement and first responders.

  • Training is available to law enforcement and first-responders in all Central Mass cities and towns.

About CIT:

  • Established in Memphis, TN in 1988 by Major Sam Cochran (ret.), along with the Memphis Police Department, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), University of Memphis, University of Tennessee, and mental health providers.

  • The goal of CIT is to increase the safety of law enforcement and individuals in crisis.

  • Training covers how to de-escalate a variety of incidents and divert individuals from the criminal justice system.

Benefits of CIT:

  • Positively impacts those who have frequent contact with law enforcement and at-risk individuals by reducing calls to 911 and reducing potentially traumatic interactions.

  • Helps individuals find treatment, rather than placing them in the criminal justice system.

  • Techniques taught increase safety for first-responders and law enforcement who have a high rate of interface with those with mental illness.

  • Increases safety for individuals in crisis and community members.

  • Provides police with self-care strategies, as they are often first responders for all sorts of emotional and psychiatric crises, including distraught and suicidal calls.

CIT Training - 40 hours, 1 week

  • Innovative training model for first-responder crisis intervention to help persons with mental and substance use disorders.

  • Covers suicide prevention, mental illness, runaway assistance, intellectual/developmental disabilities, substance use disorders, homelessness, officer self-care etc.

  • Supports police department in Central Massachusetts to establish their own CIT, comprised of trained officers in collaboration with providers in their communities.

Mental Health First Aid Training (MHFA) – 8 hours

  • Provides first responders with options to de-escalate incidents and better understand mental illness.

Dispatcher Training – 8 hours

  • Provides dispatchers with de-escalation techniques and scenario-based training to better diffuse situations before officers arrive on-scene.

For more information contact CentralMA_TTAC@openskycs.org