Crisis De-escalation for First Episode Psychosis

September 28, 2026, 8am - 4:30pm
In-Person, UW-Whitewater
Continuing Education Hours: 7.0

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Course Description

This training helps staff recognize crisis behavior, understand factors that may contribute to crisis situations, and respond with greater self-awareness, attunement, and trauma-informed communication. Participants will practice active listening, early intervention, de-escalation, co-regulation, and strategies for avoiding power struggles and minimizing counter-aggression during explosive or potentially violent situations. The training also explores how to learn from crisis by using motivational interviewing techniques to support recovery, repair relationships, and help individuals develop better strategies for handling difficult situations in the future.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Recognize crisis behavior by identifying common causes of crisis, observable signs of escalation, the impact of trauma, and the potential role of psychosis.
• Describe the importance of self-awareness in crisis situations and identify strategies for using self-awareness to support effective intervention.
• Demonstrate active listening skills as an essential communication tool for de-escalation.
• Apply de-escalation and co-regulation strategies when responding to explosive behavior or situations with the potential for violence.
• Identify signs of power struggles and use strategies to disengage from them in ways that reduce escalation.
• Use motivational interviewing techniques to help an escalated person return to baseline functioning, repair relationships, and explore more effective ways to handle difficult situations in the future.
• Apply early intervention strategies to lower stress and engage with a person earlier in the crisis cycle.
• Identify environmental and situational factors that may increase the risk of violence during an explosive situation.
• Use attunement skills to better understand the feelings, thoughts, needs, expectations, lived experiences, trauma histories, and mental health needs of a person in crisis.

Brian Bean

Brian Bean is a training coordinator for Thresholds Youth and Young Adult Services in Chicago, Illinois. He has twenty years of experience in both practicing crisis intervention and training of direct care staff. He is a certified instructor in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention, the Transition to Independence Process model, and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Think Trauma curricula.