{"id":37765,"date":"2026-03-12T09:54:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=37765"},"modified":"2026-03-12T10:07:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T14:07:25","slug":"county-one-of-6-nationally-to-host-youth-mental-health-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=37765","title":{"rendered":"County one of 6 nationally to host youth mental health program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Chester County completed a CIT-Y training program on March 6, 2026.<\/p><\/div>\n

Chester County is one of six counties nationwide selected by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Keystone to pilot the Crisis Intervention Team \u2013 Youth (CIT-Y) training program.<\/p>\n

The CIT-Y program \u2014 an extension of CIT (Crisis Intervention Team<\/a>) training \u00ad\u2014 was created to address the growing number of youth with mental health needs in the juvenile justice system. The first training was held March 4-6 and included more than 15 County departments, law enforcement agencies, and community organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CIT program benefits law enforcement, first responders, and community providers across Chester County,\u201d said the Board of Commissioners in a joint statement. \u201cTeaching effective and compassionate methods for handling the crisis needs of a young person, offers a critical opportunity to make a difference in their lives. We are honored to have been chosen by NAMI to be one of the pilot counties to implement CIT-Y programs across in the Commonwealth focusing on teens and youth. We hope that what is learned here can inform the expansion of CIT-Y.\u201d<\/p>\n

Run by the Chester County Department of Mental Health\/Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, CIT-Y teaches law enforcement, educators, first responders, and community providers about adolescent brain development and mental health symptoms in youth, along with strategies for engagement and connection to appropriate services and supports.<\/p>\n

Department of Human Services Director Pat Bokovitz said, \u201cThe staff in MH\/IDD, especially MH\/IDD Children\u2019s Mental Health Clinical Services Coordinator Teyanna Brunson, have worked closely with NAMI Keystone Pennsylvania for a number of years and were thrilled to be chosen as a CIT-Y pilot program county. Chester County is committed to ensuring that people with mental health issues are treated safely and with respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representing Chester County at the recent training were the Department of Drug and Alcohol Services, the Juvenile Probation Office, and the Human Needs Network. Other agencies included NAMI Chester County PA, Chester County ACEs Coalition, Community Care Behavioral Health, Chester County\u2019s Teen Talk Line, Child Guidance Resource Center, PA State Police, Philadelphia Coordinated Health Care, The Arc of Chester County, the Crime Victims\u2019 Center of Chester County, Trans-Parent Support Group, JusticeWorks YouthCare, and the Maternal and Child Health Consortium.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chester County is one of six counties nationwide selected by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Keystone to pilot the Crisis Intervention Team \u2013 Youth (CIT-Y) training program. The CIT-Y program \u2014 an extension of CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) training \u00ad\u2014 was created to address the growing number of youth with mental health needs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[20,3912,13198],"class_list":["post-37765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-chester-county","tag-featured","tag-youth-mental-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37766,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37765\/revisions\/37766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}