"The CIT for Youth manual is informative, contains the essential details, and will be useful for any community that chooses to take on a CIT for Youth program. Given the contact that youth with mental illness has with law enforcement, this is an important publication."
-- Mike Fitzpatrick
Executive Director
NAMI
"The strength of CIT is in relationships -- community partnerships backed up by a real commitment to work together to improve the lives of individuals with mental health needs and their families."
-- Major Charles S. "Sam" Cochran (Ret.)
"I am proud to be part of this effort and to support NAMI and its partner organizations in spreading the message about CIT for Youth."
-- Major Charles S. "Sam" Cochran (Ret.)
"CIT for Youth is more than just training officers on children's mental health issues. It is building partnerships that will work with our trained law enforcement officers to find solutions and resolutions."
-- Det. Ron Bruno
CIT Utah Program Director
Salt Lake City Police Department
"You have to put in face time. It may mean drinking lots of coffee. Invite them over and over again. It takes time for people to do something new. Keep saying how CIT for Youth would be better if they were in the partnership. Remind them you are here."
-- John Williams
Director of Youth Services
Oak Park Township, Ill.
"Sometimes you have to put your timetable aside and go with the speed of the community. This is the challenge with building community partnerships but in the end it is very much worth it."
-- Sherri Wittwer
Executive Director
NAMI Utah
"Before entering a serious dialogue [with law enforcement officers] about people with mental illness, I wanted to understand officers' culture, jobs and how they were trained. This proved to be incredibly valuable since it helped me to talk with them in an informed way."
-- Louise Pyers
Criminal Justice Project Director, NAMI CT
"The training that most police academies across the nation provide does not prepare officers to work within the school environment or with special populations, like youth living with mental health treatment needs."
-- Curt Lavarello
Executive Director
School Safety Advocacy Council
"The outcome that is most important is that a kid has the opportunity to change his or her story from horror, despair, abuse and predictable swirling down the drain to realizing how he or she can live in a much more powerful and positive way in the world."
-- John Williams
Director of Youth Services
Oak Park Township, Ill.
