Your Gifts in Action: Training Institute Growing as Needs Change
March 5, 2020
In 2015, the People Incorporated Training Institute opened its doors to equip mental health professionals with the most current behavioral health knowledge, expertise, and best practices. Over time, our highly interactive training courses have become a key resource for a broad range of community organizations focused on helping people in crisis to find stability and live well.
The demand for People Incorporated’s mental health trainings is increasing, particularly from sectors of the community that are not part of the behavioral health career field. Donations to People Incorporated are helping us meet this growing need by affording us the ability to hire an additional trainer that can provide culturally-sensitive, trauma-informed education on the unique needs of our changing community.
More and more, People Incorporated is training people who have little professional education or experience in mental health – people who were hired for jobs with very different skill sets. But many professionals are finding themselves interacting with people experiencing mental health issues, and they want to respond with compassionate, safe, appropriate, and respectful care.
Who are we training?
› Police officers – are seeing increasing numbers of calls on mental health crises and chemical health emergencies. Our trainings ensure officers have the knowledge and skills to safely de-escalate crises and provide the care needed to not further exacerbate the trauma of experiencing a serious mental health incident.
› Bus and train drivers – see all sorts of different people come onto their vehicles and are wanting support on how to best interact with people who are experiencing mental health challenges, some of whom may be displaying active symptoms of mental illness.
› Housing professionals – landlords and property managers, particularly of low-income housing units, are coming to us asking for education in the areas of mental health and trauma as they strive to help people with mental illness maintain their housing.
› Library staff – public libraries are de-facto drop-in centers for people experiencing homelessness and daycare centers, as they are quiet, warm, and safe. Our trainings ensure that they know when and how to respond as someone’s needs escalate.
› Homeless shelter staff – shelters provide vital support to the community’s most marginalized and vulnerable population who encounter trauma, mental illness, and problems related to substance use.
› Food shelf workers – need trauma-informed and de-escalation approaches to care as they support people with complex life circumstances that leave individuals feeling vulnerable, hurt, and struggling.
“The best feedback I’ve ever received was from the Sergeant in charge of training at the Minneapolis Police Department. He told me that an officer told him he thought our material on crisis de-escalation could save lives, and probably already has,” says Russ Turner, Director of the Training Institute.
Your financial support of the Training Institute keeps these trainings affordable and accessible to people and other community organizations who cannot afford the training they need to care for the community. Your gifts are a safety net for people experiencing a mental health crisis – an assurance that someone will be there to provide safe, meaningful care with the dignity and respect that each individual deserves.
Training Institute workshops are open to the public, and Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available for many courses.
To check out our schedule of upcoming trainings, visit PeopleIncorporated.org/training or www.traininginstitute.org.
