2021 CFAAC Annual Report - Report - Page 41
How our County’s Crisis Intervention Team
Can Help Lessen Trauma, Reduce Arrest,
and Improve Officer and Community Safety
Participants got an inside look into Anne
Arundel County’s (AAC) award-winning
Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Unit, a
partnership of specially trained police
officers and the Crisis Response System, the
county’s health services, and mental health
and addiction professionals. Presented by Lt.
Steven Thomas, AAC Police Department, and
Jen Corbin, Director of Crisis Response, AAC
Mental Health Agency, the webinar explained
the CIT’s evolution as well as how the
partnership helps individuals and the
community in their time of need.
Mental Health First-Aid Training Course
This in-person, Mental Health First-Aid
training course taught participants how to
identify, understand, and respond to signs of
mental illness and substance abuse
disorders. Led by an expert trainer in the
mental health field, Marguerite Keane
Gibbons, LCSW-C, attendees learned the
skills they need to reach out and provide
initial support to someone who may be
developing a mental health or substance
abuse problem and how to connect them to
the appropriate care. Attendees also learned
the ALGEE action plan:
Assess for risk of suicide or harm
Listen nonjudgmentally
Give reassurance and information
Encourage appropriate professional help
Encourage self-help and other support
strategies.
Beyond Words: An Exploration of
the Arts in Healing
Rob Levit, Executive Director of Creating
Communities, led an interactive, creative, and
hopeful exploration of the role of the Arts in
healing trauma. Participants learned how the
arts—music, movement, drawing, creative
writing,—are an exceptionally important and
well-documented
modality
to
help
individuals, organizations, and communities
toward post-traumatic growth because the
tactile, kinesthetic, aural, and visual
sensations are activated.
.
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