From press release materials
The Greater New Bedford Community Crisis Intervention Team (CCIT) is a collaborative effort bringing together law enforcement and community agencies for the purpose of effectively and compassionately providing care, safety and services for people experiencing a destabilizing crisis in their lives.
The goal of CCIT is to create and maintain an avenue for community partnerships and collaboration with specially trained members working together to resolve crisis-related situations that affect the community at large. There is a strong emphasis on cross-system interactions and elaborate networking in order to better understand and facilitate collaborative work. In short, the CCIT works pro-actively to prevent or lesson a serious and imminent threat to a person or the public.
As part of its ongoing work, the team also strtives to encourage and assist other communities to explore the possibility of establishing their own CCIT.
The CCIT follows a Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) with the goal of preventing an indvidual from entering or penetrating deeper into the criminal justice system.
Specifically, the NB CCIT model offers: Emergency consultation via a multidisciplinary team; planned case conferences to address issues in a pro-active manner using a multi-disciplinary team and follow-up as necessary; training to equip CCIT members to assist in identifying and defusing escalating situations; a network of multi-agency resources; mobile outreach of appropriate partners to follow up on cases, as needed.
Training
CCIT Training is offered throughout the year for police officers, correctional officers, first responders, court personnel, emergency nurses, hospital security staff, mental health and developmental disability providers, and other community professionals that have contact with individuals who may experience significant crisis in their lives.
Working Together
Case conference provides the CCIT with a forum for collective problem solving and interagency collaboration in response to an increasing number of challenging individuals and seemingly intractable situations in the community. The CCIT’s main purpose is to facilitate interagency communication, joint treatment planning and interventions.
All inquiries to Cynthia Wallquist, Director, City of New Bedford Community Services; CynthiaW@ newbedford-ma.gov; 508-997-4893. NB CCIT: c/o Community Services, 133 William St., New Bedford, MA 02740; 508-961-3136. •••
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