CRISIS INTERVENTION TEAM DEVELOPED TO SERVE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH COMMUNITY

(Salisbury, MD) - The Wicomico Behavioral Health Authority/Somerset Core Service Agency was awarded $52,632 from the Mental Hygiene Administration to begin development and implementation of a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT). The CIT program is a community effort enjoining law enforcement and the community for common goals of safety, understanding, and service to the behavioral health population and their families. The program provides an avenue for the development of community partnerships and the collaboration of working together for community interest of service and care. The CIT program trains police officers to interact with individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis. “The goal of the Crisis Intervention Team is to connect people with behavioral health issues to treatment or other appropriate resources thus keeping them out of jail,” says Lori Brewster, Health Officer for Wicomico County.

Maryland has developed 10 standards that should be followed in order to develop and implement the CIT program. The model for the Wicomico and Somerset teams will be based on the Memphis Model which was established in 1988 after the tragic shooting by a police officer of a man with a serious mental illness.

The Wicomico Somerset Community Crisis Intervention Team has been meeting since November 2013. Team partners include law enforcement agencies for Wicomico and Somerset Counties, Community Corrections, Mental Health Providers, Developmental Disabilities, Substance Abuse Providers, Peer Advocacy, Life Crisis, Peninsula Regional Medical Center, Salisbury University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Department of Social Services.

For more information on the Crisis Intervention Team, call Heather Brown at 410-543-6981.