KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — There are 29 more people certified to handle mental health emergencies in East Tennessee as of Friday. The McNabb Center that the group graduated from Crisis Intervention Team training and included law enforcement officers, first responders and medical staff.
The graduates were also from several counties across East Tennessee and included officers from the Knoxville Police Department, the Alcoa Police Department, the University of Tennessee Police Department, the Knox County Sheriff's Office and the Maryville Police Department.
The training is around 40 hours long and aims to show first responders how to de-escalate situations and better handle people in the midst of a mental health crisis.
"What happens is, an officer that goes out on calls will have this skill set to better respond to situations when someone is in crisis. So, someone may call a CIT officer, it's not an additional officer — just an officer with additional skills," said Candace Allen, from the McNabb Center.
The training also shows graduates how to move someone into treatment after a call, instead of putting them in prison.
