Training to handle a crisis

Criminal Justice instructor Ray Hayes recently helped lead a week-long, 40-hour course for first responders who deal with mental illness. Professor Hayes is co-coordinator of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Crisis Intervention Team. The training helps those who are on the front lines and experts who deal with mental illness every day, by allowing them to recognize someone with a mental illness. “We’re trying to look at this from a holistic standpoint. How best do we get this individual the services that they need, and incarceration is not always the answer,” Hayes said.

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