Recently, VirTra’s “Mental Illness Training: A Practical Approach” training was nationally-certified through IADLEST’s NCP program. This unique V-VICTA curriculum contains 15 hours of nationally-certified training material that contains 10 lessons, an in-depth instructor booklet and corresponding training slides.
One of the topics covered in this Mental Illness training for law enforcement is Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI. While this may seem out of place in the Mental Illness curriculum, TBI is in fact a big risk factor for conditions such as neurocognitive disorders, substance abuse and more.
About TBI
Simply put, TBI is caused by a sudden injury to the head that causes damage to the brain. This can be classified as one of two injuries: closed head or penetrating injury. These are fairly self-explanatory; closed head injuries are caused by a blow bump or jolt to the head while penetrating injuries are caused by an object penetrating the head.
Since the definition is wide, TBI can be sustained in many places and among any age group. This includes head trauma caused during intense sports such as football or soccer, falling, active duty combat or car accidents. Penetrating injuries are more intense and caused by more extreme actions, such as shrapnel, being hit by weapons such as hammers or baseball bats, or other injuries powerful enough to cause bone fragments to penetrate the skull.
Symptoms of TBI
TBI symptoms can range from mild to severe, depending on the injury and degree of severity. A good example of mild TBI are concussions, which many people have experienced and recovered from. However, the more intense forms and symptoms of TBI include serious physical and psychological symptoms, comas or even death.
Symptoms of Mild TBI: These include brief loss of consciousness, headaches, confusion, lightheadedness, dizziness, blurred vision and trouble with memory, concentration, attention and thinking.
Symptoms of Severe TBI: Just as the cause is more severe, so are the symptoms. Officers can look for: worsening headaches, repeated nausea and/or vomiting, larger pupil(s), slurred speech, loss of coordination, weakness and/or numbness and increased confusion, restlessness and agitation.
Officer Training of TBI
As an officer, you cannot diagnose a subject with TBI or any other mental illness unless you have the proper training and credentials. Instead of teaching officers to diagnose, VirTra’s Mental Illness curriculum is designed to teach officers how to recognize a variety of potential mentally ill subjects, the best forms of interaction and how to maximize officer and subject safety.
Through these 15 certified hours and corresponding real-life scenarios, officers learn appropriate verbalization techniques, can demonstrate they recognize the different behaviors displayed and how to implement the best response through every step of the interaction. Learn more about our Mental Illness training here or view the list of V-VICTA law enforcement curriculum here.
If your department could benefit from our Mental Illness curriculum, contact a VirTra specialist today.
Reference:
“Traumatic Brain Injury | TBI.” MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 30 July 2020, medlineplus.gov/traumaticbraininjury.html.
