Twenty-one people completed the Maui Police Department’s Crisis Intervention training on Friday. Photo courtesy Maui Police Department

The Maui Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team welcomed 21 new trained members Friday following completion of a 40-hour certification program designed to improve responses to people experiencing mental health or emotional crises.

The hands-on training addresses how to interact with individuals potentially suffering from a mental illness or experiencing an emotional crisis. It focuses on de-escalating a situation before reaching a point of violence or self-harm.

The latest class included officers and civilians from the Maui Police Department, Department of the Corporation Counsel, Maui Community Correctional Center, Office of the Mayor, Wailea Beach Resort-Marriott and Wailuku Federal Credit Union.

The training program, launched in 2013, was the first of its kind in Hawaii. With the addition of the newest graduates, the program now includes 324 trained participants from nonprofit organizations, county government, law enforcement and public safety, local businesses and other agencies.

According to the department, the class marked the 20th Crisis Intervention Team training session overall and the 12th conducted in Hawaii since the COVID-19 pandemic under the guidance of Alicia Rodriguez, Ph.D., a law enforcement clinical psychologist with Waves of Insight.

The CIT training is part of the Maui Police Department’s Critical Outreach and Response through Education unit that works with community agencies on issues that include houseless individuals and those potentially suffering from mental illness.