CIT International

CIT International is a non-profit membership organization whose primary purpose is to facilitate understanding, development and implementation of Crisis Intervention Team CIT programs throughout the United States and in other nations worldwide in order to promote and support collaborative efforts to create and sustain more effective interactions among law enforcement, mental health care providers, individuals with mental illness, their families and communities and also to reduce the stigma of mental illness.

CIT International works to accomplish this purpose by raising public and stakeholder awareness through education and outreach, establishing and disseminating recommended standards for developing, implementing and sustaining crisis intervention programs, providing assistance to communities interested in developing CIT programs, supporting research, improving public health and safety, evaluation of CIT programs and partnering with CIT programs in various localities to hold annual International CIT Conferences.

Connect with us on Twitter:   @CITIntl

So You Want to Start a CIT Program?

The 2014 CIT INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL CONFERENCE 

will be held OCTOBER 13-15, 2014 

in Monterey, CA

conference website citconferences.org

The mental health system in the United States is frequently referred to as “fragmented”, a “failure”, and a “non-system”. We now have hundreds of thousands of persons with serious mental illness in our jails and prisons, a figure that is many times the number who are in psychiatric hospitals.  And over 1/3 of people, including children and adolescents, who need mental health services are unable to access this care due to lack of insurance or services not being available.     

 In the wake of the recent mass murders in Tucson, Aurora, and that involving twenty small children and several adults, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, the American Psychiatric Association (APA)  has submitted testimony to the Senate Committee on Health, Education Labor, and Pensions regarding the committee’s hearing: “Assessing the State of America’s Mental Health System.”        

The APA called for “a new commission – either Presidential or Congressional – to conceptualize how our nation’s mental health system can meet the needs of all Americans in the twenty-first century.”             

The Board of Directors of CIT International strongly supports the suggestion of APA and is hopeful that a presidential or congressional commission will be appointed and that it will include: 1) representatives of first responders experienced with assisting persons with mental illness in crisis; (2) representatives of persons with mental illness and their family members; and (3) mental health providers.            

CIT International is dedicated to promoting and supporting collaborative efforts to create and sustain more effective interactions among law enforcement officers, mental health providers, individuals with mental illness and their families and communities. 

CIT International Inc. Board of Directors

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