CPI Crisis Prevention

Kelly Modine
9 min readFeb 19, 2024

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If you are looking for CPI Certification the two best programs are:

Crisis Consultant Group certification — $139

Crisis Prevention Institute certification — $1,849

The Ultimate Guide to CPI (Crisis Prevention Intervention) Training De-escalating Crisis Situations through Evidence-Based Techniques

Crises happen, especially in healthcare, education, and human services settings. A crisis is any situation where stressors exceed an individual’s coping abilities, often leading to verbal or physical aggression. When emotions run high, crises must be quickly and compassionately addressed to maintain safety. That’s where CPI crisis prevention intervention training comes in.

What is CPI Training? CPI (Crisis Prevention Institute) offers industry-leading training programs on evidence-based, nonviolent crisis intervention techniques. CPI’s specialty is crisis prevention and verbal de-escalation to minimize the need for physical intervention. Backed by proven methodologies, CPI helps professionals in healthcare, education, and human services settings better support individuals in crisis while maintaining staff and patient safety.

CPI crisis prevention intervention training equips participants to safely and effectively respond to anxious, hostile, or violent behavior while promoting a culture of care, welfare, safety, and security.

Who Needs CPI Training? CPI training benefits any organization that deals with vulnerable populations who may escalate into crisis. This includes:

  • Healthcare facilities — Help nurses, technicians, support staff, and security personnel manage escalating patient behavior with empathy and reduce injuries.
  • Schools and education settings — Give teachers, administrators, and support staff the tools to calm students, prevent bullying, and create an emotionally safe environment conducive to learning and growth.
  • Human services settings — Equip social workers, counselors, program staff, and crisis response teams to compassionately address clients in crisis.
  • First responders and law enforcement — Teach nonviolent strategies to de-escalate confrontations and improve community relations.
  • Correctional facilities — Train officers to resolve inmate altercations through verbal intervention instead of physical force.

The need for CPI techniques spans ages and settings where emotions can boil over. CPI meets staff where they are to equip them with intervention skills that fit their work environment.

The CPI Crisis Prevention Curriculum

CPI’s proprietary crisis prevention curriculum includes four main components woven together into a cohesive program:

  1. Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® Training
  • The flagship program prepares staff to safely respond to anxious, hostile, or violent behavior while balancing care, welfare, safety, and security concerns. Participants learn preventative strategies and proven verbal de-escalation techniques.

2. Verbal InterventionTM Training

  • Builds communication skills to calmly engage escalating individuals and resolve potential crisis situations through non-physical intervention.

3. Trauma-Informed Care Training

  • Provides understanding of how trauma impacts behavior and equips staff to respond with empathy and rebuilding trust.

4. Autism Spectrum and Developmental Disabilities Training

  • Tailors crisis prevention to the unique needs of individuals with autism and DD to foster inclusion and support.

Combined, these components aim to prevent crises before they occur and equip staff to calmly intervene while treating all parties with dignity and respect. The focus is providing care while keeping everyone emotionally and physically safe.

CPI Certification and Renewal CPI crisis intervention training leads to certification after completing an online or in-person course and demonstrating proficiency in simulated crisis scenarios. Certification must be renewed every 12 months with a 4-hour refresher course.

By investing in regular renewal training, organizations ensure skills stay fresh while reinforcing crisis prevention strategies across departments. Renewal also satisfies annual staff training requirements mandated by healthcare and education oversight bodies.

CPI Training Formats: In-Person and Online Courses For maximum impact, CPI training uses varied formats combining online learning and in-person practice. This ensures staff thoroughly understand concepts while gaining muscle memory for crisis response skills through immersive simulations.

In-person classroom training takes place over two days: Day 1 — Interactive lectures teach crisis intervention concepts with video examples. Content includes:

  • Nonviolent crisis intervention principles and risk assessment
  • Verbal de-escalation strategies
  • Decision-making for physical intervention
  • Documentation and debriefing

Day 2 — Crisis simulations let participants practice responding to escalating scenarios in a safe environment. Instructor-led debriefs cement new skills.

After successful participation, attendees gain certification in nonviolent crisis intervention.

For broader reach, CPI also offers a flexible online training course with virtual simulations. This self-paced course allows organizations to train more staff in a shorter timeframe across multiple locations.

Both online and in-person courses incorporate:

  • Realistic crisis scenarios
  • Interactive elements
  • Demonstrations of physical holds (in-person only)
  • Post-incident debriefing practice

This varied approach caters to different learning styles while ensuring concepts translate into practical skills that staff can apply in tense real-life situations.

CPI Training Results: Measurable Impact Thorough instructor training and consistent program evaluation ensures CPI crisis intervention training achieves measurable results. On average, organizations report:

  • 60% reduction in staff injuries due to patient violence
  • 55% reduction in patient injuries from restraint
  • 60% less sick day usage after de-escalation training
  • 63% of staff feel more confident managing escalating behavior
  • 70% would recommend CPI to their peers

With safer workplaces, lower turnover, increased preparedness, and greater confidence among employees, CPI equips organizations to better navigate crisis situations when emotions run high.

The CPI Difference: Evidence-Based Techniques Backed by Data What sets CPI’s crisis prevention approach apart is the painstaking emphasis on data-driven techniques centered on mutual welfare, benefit, and safety. Through decades of research partnerships and peer-reviewed validation with renowned institutions like Cornell University, CPI created a proven methodology that combines empathy and accountability.

The result is training that provides staff the tools and knowledge to properly assess risk, engage individuals with compassion, de-escalate crisis situations, and safely intervene only when necessary. Moreover, the focus on verbal engagement, emotional intelligence, trauma awareness, and rebuilding trust sets CPI training apart.

At its heart, CPI enables the growth of nurturing, supportive environments even amid crisis situations. It represents more than just crisis response — it’s a culture shift rooted in emotional safety.

Implementing CPI Agency-Wide CPI recognizes that no two organizations are alike. Unique needs call for tailored solutions. As such, CPI trainers carefully assess each organization’s specific challenges and goals to create customized implementation plans.

The consultative approach focuses on sustainable systems-level change, not just equipping select staff with new skills. The goal is embedding evidence-based crisis prevention strategies holistically across departments.

With individualized guidance and staff mentorship, CPI empowers organizations to achieve safety outcomes such as:

  • Policy changes that reinforce crisis prevention systems
  • Effective reporting procedures for continued skill development
  • Staff retention initiatives to reduce turnover after crises
  • Ongoing support resources to avoid staff burnout

This organizational development lens helps institute cultural change that constantly reinforces crisis prevention. It also ensures that frontline staff don’t carry the entire burden for maintaining safety. Responsibility extends across all levels of leadership.

Becoming a Certified CPI Instructor CPI sets a high bar for trainer certification unlike any other crisis intervention program. Certified Instructors complete an intensive 5-day “train-the-trainer” course covering:

  • Presentation and delivery of course content and simulations
  • Coaching and constructive feedback skills
  • Crisis intervention principles and physical techniques
  • Professional conduct, ethics, and confidentiality

Certified Instructors are the backbone of CPI training, facilitating impactful courses worldwide. They are carefully vetted to assess their:

  • Relevant work experience
  • Instructional capabilities
  • Leadership skills
  • Passion for crisis prevention

Less than 1 in 4 Instructor candidates meet CPI certification requirements, emphasizing the selectivity and standards involved.

Once certified, Instructors have access to proprietary online resources like training manuals, demonstration videos, webinars, marketing materials, and crisis scenario scripts. Ongoing professional development ensures Instructors continue delivering exceptional CPI courses that organizations trust.

Reinventing Workplace Culture through Crisis Prevention While crisis situations are inevitable in people-facing industries, harm to staff and patients doesn’t have to be. Through research-backed crisis intervention education, CPI empowers professionals to rebuild trust and stability even amid chaos.

But CPI involves more than just teaching isolated techniques — it’s about fundamentally changing culture. CPI training ushers in purposeful workplace environments where all parties recognize each other’s worth. There’s an ethos centered on mutual welfare, benefit, and safety during every interaction, even tense ones.

This attitude ripples organization-wide, from leadership deciding policies around restraint use to support staff bonding through shared caregiving experience. It starts with evidence-backed training but extends deeper — to reforming the tacit norms shaping workplace culture day-to-day.

By centering the wellbeing of staff and patients via trauma-informed crisis prevention strategies, CPI leads to measurable improvements in safety, workplace satisfaction, and even clinical outcomes. Even one instance of harm prevented means the shift towards nurturing cultures saves lives and fortifies populations to withstand future crises.

That ability to remain present, grounded, and supportive even when stress runs high — that’s the legacy of CPI training. And it’s needed now more than ever.

The Time is Now for Crisis Prevention Education CPI understands the strains facing today’s healthcare, education, and human services employees. Between an aging population with complex behavioral issues or students managing trauma and adversity, the risk of harm increases unless staff have the proper crisis intervention training.

That’s why CPI skills matter — they provide the tools to uphold safety even when situations spiral. But CPI involves more than just techniques for restraint and de-escalation. It’s about uncovering the root causes behind crises and addressing them with wisdom and care.

Evidence shows that workers trained in crisis prevention experience less burnout, fewer workplace injuries, and greater job confidence — leading to healthier cultures focused on mutual wellbeing. It’s about shaping environments where people feel safe, understood, and cared for during turbulent times in their lives.

For any organization seeking to break cycles of harm while improving staff retention and patient outcomes, the time for crisis prevention education is now. CPI stands ready to help implement lasting culture change centered on emotional and physical safety during crisis situations.

The Path Forward: Implementing CPI Crisis Prevention Training

For leaders seeking to make their organizations more trauma-informed, resilient, and grounded in emotional intelligence, CPI Crisis Prevention training holds the key. CPI equips staff at all levels with research-backed techniques to nurture cultures of mutual welfare and rebuild trust when situations escalate.

Getting Started with CPI Crisis Prevention

Implementing impactful CPI Crisis Prevention training requires getting organizational buy-in, assembling an implementation team, and tailoring the curriculum to your needs. CPI’s trainers will guide you through the process via:

  • Leadership Alignment — Get executives and decision-makers on board by presenting data on CPI results regarding workplace injuries, staff confidence, and belt restraint policies. Demonstrate how CPI Crisis Prevention dovetails with larger cultural change initiatives.
  • Needs Assessment — Work with CPI to evaluate your organization’s pain points, high-risk areas, patient population needs, and crisis intervention policies. This allows CPI to customize curriculum components and simulations.
  • Staff Involvement — Assemble an implementation team with representatives from different departments and authority levels. This embeds CPI Crisis Prevention across the organizational chart.

Once established, CPI Certified Instructors facilitate highly-tailored in-person courses or flexible online training aligned to your organization’s unique requirements.

Sustaining Change Through Renewal Training
The initial two-day CPI Crisis Prevention course and certification arms staff with intervention skills needed in volatile situations. But the real work comes through constant reinforcement via annual renewal sessions.

Renewal training allows organizations to:

  • Evaluate on-the-job application of CPI techniques
  • Refresh key crisis prevention principles
  • Adjust curriculum to emerging workplace challenges
  • Identify high-performing staff for instructor certification

This continual improvement process ensures CPI Crisis Prevention transforms workplace culture long-term instead of being a one-off solution.

Measuring CPI Crisis Prevention Impact A key pillar of CPI training is its rigorously-researched therapeutic methodology. This allows organizations to quantify the impact of CPI Crisis Prevention across metrics like:

  • Reduced patient aggression incidents
  • Less staff mental distress during crisis response
  • Increased confidence dealing with escalating behavior
  • Lower staff turnover rates

Robust data enables organizations to pinpoint what aspects of CPI Crisis Prevention work and what requires adjustment. This empirical approach reinforces credibility when lobbying leadership for ongoing support.

The Proof is in the Data: CPI Crisis Prevention Works

Ultimately CPI Crisis Prevention training must deliver measurable improvements in safety outcomes to consider implementation a success.

The numbers speak for themselves — 60% drops in staff assaults, 55% fewer patient injuries, and marked jumps in workplace satisfaction.

But anecdotal evidence from nurses, teachers, counselors, and crisis workers shows how CPI Crisis Prevention positively impacts cultures by keeping people grounded even during turmoil. This prevents burnout, reduces turnover, and leads to greater professional fulfillment.

That’s the true heartbeat of CPI Crisis Prevention — enabling organizations and communities to grow together through trauma using empathy and trust.

Interested in Bringing CPI Crisis Prevention Training to Your Organization?

CPI’s worldwide network of passionate professional instructors stand ready to guide you through tailored implementation. Contact CPI today to get started creating an emotionally safer, more resilient workplace culture centered on welfare.

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Kelly Modine

I'm committed to keeping us safe at work, ensuring a secure environment where we can thrive and succeed without worries. Your safety is my priority.