Creating Safe Scenes Training Course
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Resource Type: Online Courses
Focus Population: People in Recovery from Substance Use, People with Criminal Justice System Involvement, People with Juvenile Justice System Involvement, People with Serious Mental Illness (SMI)
Topics: Criminal or Juvenile Justice System, Crisis Response System, Trauma-informed
Creating Safe Scenes is a free, Commission on Accreditation for Pre-Hospital Continuing Education (CAPCE)- accredited, online training course that helps first responders—police, fire, and emergency medical services—work with individuals experiencing a mental health and/or substance use crisis. This course is designed to help first responders understand more about mental health, mental illness, and substance use disorders so they can better assess risks and apply the safest strategies for taking care of themselves and the individuals they are called to serve. Creating Safe Scenes—which includes first-hand video accounts from responders and mental health consumers, quizzes, resources, and a final exam—will help first responders understand how individuals come to experience a behavioral health crisis, understand how best to make a safe connection with an individual experiencing a crisis, learn about de-escalation strategies for working with people in crisis, learn strategies for developing community networks and referral resources, and understand how to improve the safety of both the responder and the individual in crisis.