Clarksville, TN – The Clarksville Police Department (CPD) completed its second Crisis Intervention Team training class on November 18th, 2022 at the Clarksville Police Department Training Complex.
The second class consisted of 18 members of the Clarksville Police Department, four members from the Austin Peay Police Department (APSU), and three from Montgomery County Emergency Medical Services.
The attendees graduated from a 40-hour Crisis Intervention class which was led by CPD’s Lieutenant Eric Ewing and assisted by Kara Merriam of Centerstone and Kim Rush King of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Tennesse. NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.
The emphasis for the team is to assist in cases where individuals face mental illness or emotional crises and help de-escalate situations through specialized responses.
The Clarksville Police Department would like to thank the following for their support and participation during the CIT training: Clarksville Fire Rescue (CFR) District Chief Kevin Finch, Alzheimer’s Tennessee, Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, the Mental Health Co-op, Unity Psychiatric Care, Bradford Recovery Services, Youth Villages, APSU Health and Counseling Center, the Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute, and Centerstone’s Crisis Services, Veteran Services, School Based Services, Criminal Justice Program, and Psychosocial Rehab.
“I would like to specifically recognize Kara Merriam, of Centerstone,” said Clarksville Police Chief David Crockarell. “Her continued dedication to the Clarksville Police Department, assisting in their preparation, training, and ongoing efforts to support the citizens of Clarksville, living with a mental illness or struggling through a serious emotional disturbance is greatly appreciated.”
For more information about mental health by the numbers, please visit www.nami.org/mhstats
