COMMUNICATION WITH AGGRESSIVE, MENTALLY ILL AND
EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED INDIVIDUALS
For First Response, Corrections, Parole/Probation Officers, 911 Call-Takers and Dispatchers, DARE/School Resource Officers (concerning children and youth) & CIT (Crisis Intervention Team)
NOTE: Trainings are tailor made to address the specific responsibilities of the officers as well as the type of individuals and incidents (aggressive youth, mentally ill and aggressive adults in the community, or incarcerated individuals)
Presented by Ellis Amdur
Because officers have to protect their own safety, as well as the safety of those around them, they only have a small amount of time in which to establish a communication mode that minimizes the risk of violence. Agitated, not-yet-violent individuals can often be directed away from violence through the proper use of communication skills.
These techniques, like effective physical defensive tactics, are both simple and broad-based. Additionally, the verbal de-escalation techniques are geared to "set up" those being controlled so that physical control techniques are enhanced, whenever they are necessary. Finally, successful verbal de-escalation of agitated individuals in public view will increase respect for law enforcement among the general population. Such respect can contribute to future officer safety.
Basic Training
Street Diagnosis
- Recognizing types of mental illness and emotional disturbance
- Communicating with people suffering from mental illness
Aggressive Individuals
- Calming angry individuals, mentally ill or not
- Verbal de-escalation and control of individuals on the edge of violence
Parole/Probation
- Specialized Training in dealing with disturbed and aggressive individuals in that vital role that must combine both law enforcement and social service paradigms
911 Operators
- Specialized Training in dealing with aggressive, suicidal or emotionally disturbed individuals on the phone.
DARE/School Resource Officers
- Specialized Training in dealing with disturbed and aggressive children and youth
Suicidal Individuals
- Assessing likelihood of self-harm
- Intervention techniques
Dealing with the System
- Dealing with repetitive callers/abusers of emergency services
- Effective liaison with child protective services and mental health professionals
CIT Teams
- Ellis Amdur has worked with a number of CIT training programs. As part of the standard 40 hours of training, Mr. Amdur offers between eight and sixteen hours of instruction which can include some or all of the following: the recognition of patterns of behavior which suggest mental illness, strategic communication specific to such behaviors, de-escalation of aggressive and agitated individuals, suicide assessment and intervention specific to law enforcement and dealling with mentally ill children and youth.
- References from CIT team leaders and/or other law enforcement agencies are available upon request.
ADVANCED CIT & CNT/HNT (Crisis/hostage negotiator) TRAINING
Follow-up Trainings for Certified CIT Police Officers and/of Negotiators & Special Operations Units
Presented by Ellis Amdur
The CIT training model usually mandates forty hours of training in an intensive five day course. A tremendous amount of information is packed into a very short time. Officers find that some information is more directly relevant to their role as first response or corrections officers. After some time trying to implement the skills they have learned, they sometimes find that they could use more information in one area or another. Furthermore, things come up that were not part of the training whatsoever.
Similarly, Negotiators and SWAT officers, who must work hand-in-glove, often desire training that goes beyond the basics of Negotiation 101. Ellis Amdur offers an advanced tactical communication training that is specific to borderline, paranoid and/or psychopathic barricaded subjects.
Below are some of the areas of concern that I have previously been asked to address. My areas of expertise are not confined to these topics, so please feel free to ask:
- Suicide
- Psychotic behaviors
- Problems with juveniles, including mental illness, violence and suicide
- Aspergers syndrome and autism
- Frequent callers to the 911 system or corrections staff who are either in constant psychological crisis or claim to be
- Manipulative individuals
- Psychopathic behaviors.
- Mock scene training - I consider this to be the most important adjunct to basic CIT training. It's focus is the seamless integration of verbal de-escalation, defensive tactics and weapons/firearms training. Edgework's philosophy is that there is no "continuum of force." Rather, there is a "circle of force" - one has to choose the proper, most effective strategy in that moment to best achieve safety - and this, not "verbal de-escalation" alone, is the true definition of "crisis intervention." Training is done in cooperation with your agency's DT instructional staff.
The advanced training is one day in length. Agencies contact Edgework after a survey of officers and then present the areas of concern. If it is not an area of my expertise, I will refer the agency onward to the best people I know.
Ellis Amdur's participation as a trainer in your basic CIT course is not a pre-requisite for this follow-up training..
ADVANCED SCENARIO TRAINING IN DEALING WITH MENTALLY ILL INDIVIDUALS
For Hostage/Crisis Negotiation Teams
Presented by Ellis Amdur
This advanced training offers crisis negotiation teams an opportunity to set up and devise a realistic role-play scenario for negotiations with a mentally ill or drug or alcohol intoxicated individual.
The training is presented in two ways:
- Onsite with a specific team – scenarios are developed to be as realistic as is possible, and also can include SWAT and CERT teams. After consulting with the negotiation team leader, a time-limited scenario will be set up in which Mr. Amdur will play the hostage taker or suicidal individual. The team leader will designate what particular skills he or she wishes the team to practice, although the team may not be informed of this.
- Using a speaker-phone, time-limited exercises can be presented in front of an audience, with a negotiation team realistically interacting from another location. These presentation scenarios, suitable for large conferences, enable all participants to hone their skills in recognizing and dealing with subjects with specific diagnoses, or other aberrant mental states.
Ellis Amdur is known for his ability to take on the behaviors and emotions of a mentally ill or intoxicated individual "from the inside out." However, rather than losing himself completely in the role, he is able to monitor the interaction with the trainee(s), so that practice remains geared towards a successful outcome. Therefore, his role will be dual: to portray, as accurately as possible, the behavior and verbalizations of a particular emotional crisis and, when necessary, to guide the negotiators toward a successful resolution through subtle changes in his behavior or communication patterns.
The exercise will remain under the control of the team leader, who will, as necessary, convey instructions to most effectively challenge the negotiation team.
Mr. Amdur has taken the FBI’s forty-hour basic negotiation training, so he is familiar with the standards of practice of hostage negotiation.
References from negotiation team leaders available upon request.
TRAINING CONCERNING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Presented by Ellis Amdur
NOTE: This training can be provided in various formats. Exclusively for law enforcement, prosecutors social services personnel, domestic violence advocates, or as an inter-disciplinary training bringing all the respective parties together.
Among the most difficult situations that anyone might face are those associated with domestic violence. What makes them especially complicated is the overlap of different agencies and personnel with responsibilities that may come into conflict. It is law enforcement’s responsibility to arrest perpetrators of violence, and the prosecutor’s to ensure that solid cases go to court. Therapists, on the other hand, have a primary responsibility of helping survivors of abuse heal, whereas domestic violence advocates are the strong right arm of the victims, who work among the various systems and personnel to ensure that they are not victimized yet again.
These situations are further complicated by the tangle of conflicting psychological issues of the disputants, and not infrequently further exacerbated by substance abuse on the part of victims as well as perpetrators.
This training will focus on both crisis intervention and more long-term tactical intervention in these situations. Mr. Amdur will discuss the most typical psychological types of individuals enmeshed in such disputes, as well as verbal de-escalation tactics to make interventions go as smoothly as they possibly can, enabling the various individuals involved in such a case to work together most effectively.
ADVANCED TRAINING IN DEALING WITH MENTALLY ILL INDIVIDUALS AND THOSE DISPLAYING CHAOTIC RAGE (EXCITED DELIRIUM)
What Excited Delirium is Not! New Course!
Presenter: Ellis Amdur
Chaotic rage, of which excited delirium is a subset, is usually a medical emergency masked as a violent incident is justifiably a very hot topic for emergency responders. The individual, incoherent, terrified and enraged is afflicted with a soaring body temperature and a cascade of physical malfunctions. They are appallingly combative and they often die, struggline violently with police or medical staff, their deaths precipitated by their medical condition.
Many emergency responders leave a course on the subject primed and ready to deal with such individuals. This leads to a two-fold problem:
- Every mentally ill person now looks like they are in a chaotic rage state.
- The protocols for dealing with even the serious mentally ill are diametrically opposed for those in chaotic rage states. In the former, one takes the extra time to talk them down. With the latter, one subdues them as quickly as possible and initiates medical interventions to save their lives.
Amdur's course is presented in tandem with standard presentations on excited delirium. Amdur gives an overview of behavioral syndromes (caused by drugs, mental illness, alcohol, heat stroke, diabetic shock, etc.) that may now, after a training in excited delirium, all appear to be in the latter state. After describing (actually through role play demonstration) the various syndromes he is referencing, he offers suggestions for best-practice verbal interventions in crisis situations. He also provides "trip-wires," to help the intervener realize that the subject of concern is not going to calm - rather, they continue to escalate.
Amdur will either meet with the other trainer, or have a phone conversation, so that the two trainings dove-tail perfectly.
|
