Emergency responders undergo crisis intervention training in Boone County

Emergency dispatchers from across the state will wrap up two days of Crisis Intervention Team, or CIT training at the Boone County Sheriff’s Department Friday.

The training is designed to help dispatchers gain the needed skills to identify a mental health caller in crisis so that they can respond effectively.

About 45 people are going through the training.

“Public safety telecommunicators handle a large variety of calls ranging from acts of nature, to major accidents, to active shooters,” said Sgt. Tracey Cleeton with the Boone County Sheriff’s Department. “Calls involving mental illness are becoming more frequent and dispatchers need to know how to effectively communicate with those in crisis on the other end of the line.”

CIT training is set up to improve the outcomes of law enforcement interaction with people living with mental illness. The department said the model also improves safety for family, officer and community members.

Some of the training includes how to effectively communicate with callers who may be having a mental health crisis and techniques to calm a situation before officers arrive.

Dispatchers are also being shown how to recognize situations that may need a response from officers specially trained in crisis intervention.

The training will not only cover the understanding of mental illness, but also PTSD, suicide recognition and risk assessment.