Suicide Intervention has been a significant part of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training since WSCJTC became involved with CIT training in 2008. In the Winter of 2023, the CIT team elected to update and enhance that block of CIT training.
After in-depth research and discussions, CJTC began to invest in creating a state-of-the-art Suicide Prevention and Intervention system. To accomplish this, CJTC entered an interagency agreement with the University of Washington’s School of Social Work, to develop a ground-breaking training for Law Enforcement, with the goal of training them to recognize and appropriately intervene in situations where suicide might be a risk.
The training would not only create a standardized 4-hour curricula block for the 40-hour CIT trainings, but also train, certify, and audit instructors, to ensure fidelity and consistency in the adopted model. In addition to the 4-hour block for CIT regional courses, it was also decided to create a shortened, 2-hour online training to be implemented and adopted as the annual CIT refresher course required of every certified peace officer in Washington State. Lastly, the training program included the development of a 2-hour block of instruction to replace a portion of the current 8-hour CIT training block in the Basic Law Enforcement Academy.
CJTC staff and contract instructors have collaborated with top experts in the field of suicidality to make this project the best in the nation. As this training roles out, academic research, including surveys, measurements of behavior change, and other important variables are being tracked and cataloged. It is our goal to create and share this program with any Law Enforcement agency across the nation that requests it. Please explore the following information and resource webpages. If you have questions about this program, please contact us.