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A crisis situation, for example someone struggling with the destructive effects of a mental health situation such as alcoholism or drug addiction, calls for an intervention by a team of professionals who can help get them the help they so desperately need before it's too late. A Crisis Intervention Team in Bay is a form of community monitoring which calls upon and utilizes healthcare, law enforcement and other relevant agencies as well as family members to help those in crisis. This starts with the training and education of healthcare providers, law enforcement officers, and other contributing team members in the community so they know how to react and effectively work together during such a crisis. There are education programs offered to educate law enforcement officers and 911 emergency dispatchers for example, which involves 40 hours of training in supporting the mental health professionals they will be working with during the crisis, learning verbal de-escalation skills so that they can address and handle the crisis without it developing into a possibly dangerous or hostile incident, etc.
In many instances, Crisis Intervention Teams are used as a means of jail diversion. Meaning, being able to appropriately respond to the incident as a mental health episode and not a crime keeps people having a mental health crisis out of jail and instead where they should be, in treatment and getting help. Additionally this keeps people with mental health problems out of prison where they will not be able to effectively address their disorder, such as a substance abuse disorder. Rather than in jail, individuals in crisis can receive counseling, behavioral therapies, medication and other treatment to rehabilitate them. This not only helps the individual in crisis, but also all of society because it costs more to incarcerate someone with a mental health disorder in prison than it does to properly treat them in an appropriate mental health recovery program.
