For law enforcement agencies
Mental Health Crisis Response Training for Police
Police mental health crisis response training prepares officers to recognize when someone is in a behavioral health crisis and to lead with communication instead of force. CodeBlu delivers it as voice practice: officers work through realistic crisis calls with a conversational AI, then get a per-competency after-action review that scores how they handled the encounter.
How CodeBlu trains the crisis response
Mental health training for police officers works when officers practice the actual call under pressure and get specific feedback. CodeBlu turns that into repeatable, voice-based reps.
Rehearse the call, out loud
Officers speak to a conversational AI that responds like a person in crisis. They practice the mental-health call itself, recognizing the crisis and talking it down, instead of reading about it.
A scored after-action review
Every session ends with a per-competency after-action review of how the officer handled the response: what worked, where it slipped, and a recommended next step. See a real example in the sample review.
What the training covers
One program for the police response to a mental-health crisis, across recognition, communication, and coordinated response. It draws on the patterns documented in our research on the crisis calls that most often result in force.
Recognizing crisis
Crisis usually arrives mislabeled, inside a call dispatched as something else. Officers practice spotting the behavioral-health indicators that change how a response should go.
De-escalating the response
The police response to a mental-health crisis lives or dies on communication. Officers rehearse leading with words, pacing, and patience against a subject who pushes back.
Coordinated and co-responder calls
Behavioral health crisis training for police that fits how agencies actually respond, including staging and co-responder crisis response with a clinician on scene.
Responding to crisis, not officer wellness
This page is about how officers respond to a person in a mental-health crisis. That is a different subject from the officer's own mental health and resilience, which we cover separately in the officer wellness guide. For the broader communication skill set behind every crisis call, see police de-escalation training, or read our explainer on crisis intervention team (CIT) training.
Grounded in the established frameworks
CodeBlu's scenarios draw on the public, evidence-based work in crisis intervention rather than inventing a new model. CodeBlu is not partnered with, certified by, or endorsed by any of those organizations. We explain how the sources fit together, and credit each one, on the methodology page.
Colorado Rule 28 and C.R.S. 24-31-315
Crisis intervention and mental-health awareness are non-perishable topics that can count toward the discretionary 12 hours of the Rule 28 annual 24, and this training addresses the de-escalation requirement in C.R.S. 24-31-315. It is not perishable-skills credit, and CodeBlu does not submit to POST. The chief or sheriff, through the training officer, owns the credit decision and the POST entry.
Frequently asked questions
- What training do police get for mental-health calls?
- Police mental health crisis response training prepares officers to recognize when someone is in a behavioral health crisis and to lead with communication instead of force. CodeBlu delivers it as voice practice: officers work through realistic crisis calls with a conversational AI, then get a per-competency after-action review that scores how they handled the encounter.
- How should officers respond to someone in a mental-health crisis?
- At the training-program level: slow the encounter down, create time and distance where it is safe to, recognize that the behavior may be driven by crisis rather than defiance, and lead with calm, plain communication. CodeBlu lets officers rehearse those decisions against a subject who responds in real time.
- What is a co-responder model?
- A co-responder model pairs a police officer with a behavioral-health clinician so a crisis call gets both a safety response and a clinical one. CodeBlu trains the officer side of that encounter: the recognition and communication skills an officer needs whether or not a clinician is on scene.
- Does this training count toward Rule 28 or C.R.S. 24-31-315?
- Crisis intervention and mental-health awareness are non-perishable topics that can count toward the discretionary 12 hours of the Rule 28 annual 24, and this training addresses the de-escalation requirement in C.R.S. 24-31-315. It is not perishable-skills credit, and CodeBlu does not submit to POST. The chief or sheriff, through the training officer, owns the credit decision and the POST entry.
Train the response before the call comes in
Try the demo scenario yourself, or get in touch to set up a private demo and pricing for your agency.