Comments Document
Adult Qualified Mental Health Professionals (QMHP-As Masters level, licensed and licensed eligible and above) new hires who are certified as 988 crisis co-responders under the Governor's "Right Help Right Now" Crisis Now Initiative should be required to undergo the same Virginia Criminal Justice Academy approved CIT training as law enforcement officers undergoing the same or equivalent training. This is the practice in other state jurisdictions which employ the evidence-based "Memphis Model" (see attached) and should be the case in Virginia. In Virginia, non-custodial Department of Corrections personnel who were "new hires" in major state correctional facilities, as I was early in my career as a licensed clinical psychologist, were required to go through the same basic training as correction officer "new hires" which was viewed at the time as means of enhancing teamwork and a shared sense of the importance of security. The same should be the case for those who work as a team in doing this kind of crisis work. That is in my professional opinion as someone who has done crisis work for years and worked in both the criminal and civil judicial systems and in the private sector for many years as well.
Edmund W. Creekmore, Jr., Ph.D., LCP, Independent Forensic Examiner
Comments Document
Adult Qualified Mental Health Professionals (QMHP-As Masters level, licensed and licensed eligible and above) new hires who are certified as 988 crisis co-responders under the Governor's "Right Help Right Now" Crisis Now Initiative should be required to undergo the same Virginia Criminal Justice Academy approved CIT training as law enforcement officers undergoing the same or equivalent training. This is the practice in other state jurisdictions which employ the evidence-based "Memphis Model" (see attached) and should be the case in Virginia. In Virginia, non-custodial Department of Corrections personnel who were "new hires" in major state correctional facilities, as I was early in my career as a licensed clinical psychologist, were required to go through the same basic training as correction officer "new hires" which was viewed at the time as means of enhancing teamwork and a shared sense of the importance of security. The same should be the case for those who work as a team in doing this kind of crisis work. That is in my professional opinion as someone who has done crisis work for years and worked in both the criminal and civil judicial systems and in the private sector for many years as well. Edmund W. Creekmore, Jr., Ph.D., LCP, Independent Forensic Examiner