Laying the Foundation
What is Involved?
Laying the foundation for model such as CIT includes researching the model and having initial conversations with others in your local community. Before deciding which model is right for your community, research the benefits, and the problems it aims to solve. Connect with law enforcement leaders and officers, mental health providers and mental health advocates in your local community who may be interested. Once you have a few individuals interested in the CIT model, hold a meeting to get the process started.
Why is it Important?
A model such as CIT is a community program and has the most positive impact if partners in the community are fully engaged. While there are many resources to help you get started, each community will create a unique program that addresses their specific needs. By researching CIT and beginning informal conversations, you will gain an understanding of whether can help your community respond to people living with mental illness. You will also begin building partnerships that will be key to your success.
Who is Involved?
The foundation is built upon relationships between local law enforcement, mental health providers and mental health advocacy groups. However, CIT can begin by the initiative of any individual within these groups who cares about improving law enforcement response to people experiencing a crisis. As you move forward, you may broaden your group to include other criminal justice professionals, local government leaders, state law enforcement, mental health agencies and others.
How long does it take?
In most cases, CIT begins with one or two individuals who recognize an opportunity to improve police interactions with people with mental illness in their community. Occasionally, CIT is driven by a tragic event or by the initiative of a powerful leader (e.g. sheriff, mayor or judge). In those cases, it may be possible to bring together partners quickly to learn about and commit to CIT. But it is not necessary to wait for a tragedy or for a community leader to speak up. Unless there is some reason to be concerned about a strict timeline, such a deadline for start-up grant funding, focus on moving forward at the pace that works for your community. All that matters is that you are committed to make progress and keep your partners involved.
What is Next?
To lay the foundation, it is necessary to engage in a series of tasks. It is important to learn more, connect to a program, review the Core Elements, research funding, generate support, share information, host a meeting, identify a leader, begin a dialogue, and recruit additional members. You can find additional information about these tasks on the menu to the left.