
CRISIS INTERVENTIONS TEAMS WORK FOR:
– LAW ENFORCEMENT – FIRST RESPONDERS – COMMUNITIES
Thanks to funding provided by the state of Tennessee, FREE Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) assistance is available for Tennessee law enforcement and communities.

WHAT IS CIT?
CRISIS INTERVENTION TEAMS are community-based programs that bring together first responders, mental health professionals, mental health advocates, people living with mental illness and their families, and other partners to improve community responses to mental health crises, helping to:
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- Create safer communities
- Increase law enforcement & first responder access to resources
- Save taxpayer dollars
- Connect more mental health patients with treatment
- Reduce trauma among mental health patients and their families

CIT WORKS
FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT & FIRST RESPONDERS
CIT provides officers with tools to identify mental health crises and to respond more safely and compassionately to people with serious mental illness in a crisis. CIT gives officers options other than arrest and jail time when they encounter people with mental illness:
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- Improving public safety
- Reducing the amount of time officers spend dealing with mental disturbance calls
- Putting officers back into the community more quickly
- Reducing officer injuries
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CIT WORKS
FOR COMMUNITIES
CIT improves public safety, allowing police officers to spend more time addressing crime and less time on mental health crises that are better handled by mental health professionals.
CIT helps people in crisis by keeping them out of jail, providing more effective treatment, and reducing trauma for patients and families.
CIT also raises community awareness about mental illness and provides opportunities to advocate for needed mental health services and support.
BRING CIT TO YOUR COMMUNITY
Thanks to funding from the state of Tennessee, NAMI TN is providing FREE assistance to law enforcement agencies and communities interested in establishing a crisis intervention team. This includes:
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Identifying and recruiting key community members and service providers
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Training officers and providing training resources
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Establishing CIT protocol and guidelines for your community
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For more information, contact:
Kim Rush King
Statewide CIT Director
NAMI-TN
615-415-9411

