ADAMH Announces 14 Officers Completed CIT Training

Presented By Ross-Chillicothe Convention & Visitor’s Bureau

(Chillicothe) – The Paint Valley Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health (ADAMH) Board is pleased to announce that 14 law enforcement officers and first responders, who serve in the Paint Valley ADAMH Board region, completed Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training on Friday, May 6, 2022. The weeklong (40 hour) training is designed to train law enforcement officers and first responders to react appropriately to situations involving someone with a mental illness or a developmental disability.

Since the first Paint Valley ADAMH CIT Training in 2013, a total of 159 officers or first responders have completed CIT Training. Fayette county has four CIT officers, Highland county has 38 CIT officers, Pickaway county has 34 CIT officers, Pike county has eleven CIT officers and Ross county has 72 CIT officers.

Penny Dehner, Executive Director of the Paint Valley ADAMH Board, stated, “It is very important to assure that we have trained officers in our Board region, not only for the safety of our officers, but also for our communities. We are really excited to host this annual training.”

The CIT Planning Committee is comprised of mental health providers from Scioto Paint Valley Mental Health Center (SPVMHC), law enforcement officers and Veterans Administration professionals that worked together to develop a local CIT training. This training is funded by The Paint Valley ADAMH Board. National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Ohio provides additional funding for presenters to assure the best training in the state is available for our law enforcement officers. Thank you to the staff of Pickaway and Ross County Board of DD, SPVMHC, VA Medical Center and NAMI for their contributions to our training.

The Paint Valley ADAMH Board would like to thank the following businesses for discounted meals they provided for our officers this week: West Side Meats and Eats, Casa Del Taco, Giovanni’s Pizza, and Crazy Dog Hot Dogs. We also want to extend our appreciation to the following businesses for their donation of lunch for our officers: Buffalo Wild Wings, and 7Miles Smokehouse.