Posted on Aug. 2, 2022 by Emily Hatch

Behavioral health training is very broad, yet the topics are specific. Behavioral health and mental illness cover a critical range of topics, diagnoses and states of mind that every officer must be familiar with. 

What comes to mind when you hear “behavioral health” or “mental illness”? Often, people think of extremes, such as suicide or schizophrenia. The term “behavioral health” includes depression, anxiety, trauma and PTSD—illnesses officers are more likely to encounter in the field. 

Knowing that behavioral health’s range covers illnesses that are more commonplace in addition to those rarer, it is easy to see how 1 in 5 American adults currently live with a behavioral health issue. Officers may encounter those with a mental illness at any time, so they must know how to recognize the various signs and the proper ways of connecting. 

To make training on this expansive topic easy, VirTra created “Mental Illness Training: A Practical Approach”, a nationally-certified course that teaches officers how to recognize and interact with these subjects. This V-VICTA® curriculum includes 15 certified training hours through ten lessons, along with corresponding presentations, tests, realistic video scenarios and more for well-rounded training. 

The topics covered in this 15-hour course include:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • PTSD
  • Suicide
  • Schizophrenia
  • Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Dementia
  • Crisis De-Escalation
  • Substance Use

Departments are encouraged to teach this topic more in-depth. It is not heavily taught nationwide, despite every community having members with a mental illness. Start improving community safety, officer knowledge and help for all. Learn more about this training and how to implement it into your regimen by contacting a VirTra representative. 

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