Responding When Resources Contract:
The Chicago Crisis Intervention Team
Collaboration
OFFICER KURT GAWRISCH
CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT
AMY WATSON, PHD
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
Overview
 CIT in Chicago History and model
 Findings to date
 Advanced CIT
 CIT-Youth
 CIT-Veterans
 Contracting Resources
 The Chicago Crisis Intervention Collaboration
 Identifying and addressing system gaps
 Ongoing expansion of CIT capacity
CIT in Chicago
 Training developed in collaboration with community providers &
advocates & stakeholders
 Began in 2 pilot districts in 2004
30-40 officers/supervisors per district
 Citywide (all 22 districts) implementation began 2006
 To date, 1700 officers trained in basic CIT (~1,000 in districts currently)
Involving people in recovery in the training process:
Collaboration with the Thresholds Theatre Arts Program&
NAMI-GC
Findings to Date
Testing a systems level intervention to improve police
response to persons with mental illness: CIT in Chicago
 2008 NIMH funded Study of CIT in 4 Chicago police
districts
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CIT trained officers directed 18% more call subjects to MH services than non
CIT peers
Linkage more likely in districts with more MH services
CIT officers used less force at higher levels of resistance
 Current study examining CIT and MH service access
in all 22 districts
Advanced CIT-Youth
 In 2009, CPD and NAMI-GC collaborated to develop an advanced training
course addressing mental illness among the youth population
 In 2010, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) provided
NAMI-GC with funding to implement the Crisis Intervention Team for Youth
(CIT-Y) program within the Chicago Police Department (CPD). This was the
FIRST CIT-Y program in the country
 CIT-Y training goals
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Advance officer knowledge of youth mental illness.
Decrease the likelihood that violent interactions will occur when law enforcement officers respond
to crises involving youth with mental illnesses.
Reduce the number of mentally ill youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
Advanced CIT-Youth (CIT-Y)
Evaluation ongoing by ICJIA (R.Skorek)
 Focus Groups and Surveys suggest
Overall, participants were very satisfied with the CIT-Y training content and
delivery.
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Officers reported applying CIT-Y techniques in their work, particularly
within schools and housing developments
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Barriers to practicing CIT-Y identified
CIT-Y Case Management Program
 Partnerships between NAMI-GC and local Social
Work and Psychology programs
 Outreach to youth and families referred by CIT-Y
officers
 Linkage and case management
Advanced CIT Veterans
 In 2009, CPD collaborated with the Veteran’s Reintegration Initiative (VRI) in
Illinois to develop an advance training addressing Veteran’s issues.
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Illinois Department of Human Services
Illinois Department of Corrections
Cook County and Rock Island County Mental Health Courts and Probation
Community Mental Health Providers
Veteran’s Administration
 Funded by grant awarded by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMSHA) to the Illinois Department of Human Services
which funded VRI.
 Training Emphasis
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Street level diversions
Recognition of signs and symptoms of disorders common to veterans
Information and transportation to mental health resources
Contracting Resources
 Ongoing cuts to mental health service budgets-transition
to fee for service billing and cuts to funds for persons not
receiving Medicaid or other coverage
 Closure of 6 o12 City of Chicago Mental Health clinics in
2011
 Closure of Community Mental Health Council clinics
serving the south side of the city
 Growing need
Chicago drop off sites and MH providers
The Chicago Crisis Intervention Collaboration:
CCIC
 Initial Collaboration on BJA expansion grant
 Expands and re-invigorates cross system
partnerships and problem solving
 Identification of gaps-effective linkage to services
following CIT encounter
CCIC Pilot linkage project
 Pilot two police districts; 19 and 24
 Expand collaboration with Thresholds and IL Masonic Medical Center
Emergency Room
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3 of 4 police referrals (voluntary/involuntary) are not admitted to the inpatient psychiatric
unit and release without linkage to treatment
 Thresholds will provide direct service or will make referrals, regardless
of the ability to pay
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Designate a 24 hour Hotline number used by Illinois Masonic ER / CPD and voluntary consent
form
Create Intake & Assessment Specialist (LCSW) responsible for linkage to community resources
Discussion & Questions
Thank you
 For more informationOfficer Kurt Gawrisch
Chicago Police Department
312-745-5745
kurt.gawrisch@chicagopolice.org
Amy C Watson, PhD
University of Illinois at Chicago
312 996-0039
acwatson@uic.edu