Heritage Behavioral Services Blog

 by MICHELLE DIAMENT Georgia Ranks 4th in DD Services An annual ranking of states offering the best services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities reveals a familiar but evolving landscape. The analysis of disability services in all 50 states and the District of Columbia being released Thursday by United Cerebral Palsy finds top performers spanning the map. In previous years, the best services were largely clustered in the Northeast and West. Arizona claimed the number one slot in the ranking for the third year in a row. Also rounding out the 10 best on this year’s list are Michigan, Hawaii, Georgia, New York, South Carolina, Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio and Missouri.

by MICHELLE DIAMENT Training police to respond to situations involving people with developmental disabilities and other behavioral disorders leads to fewer arrests and more treatment referrals, new research suggests. In a  two-part study , researchers looked at use of the crisis intervention team, or CIT, model, a 40-hour program to train police to respond to those with mental health issues. They interviewed 586 officers, Crisis Training Pays 251 of whom had received CIT training, and reviewed more than 1,000 police encounters with individuals believed to have behavioral disorders. Officers who participated in CIT training were more knowledgable about mental health issues, treatments and de-escalation skills, according to findings published in the April issue of the journal Psychiatric Services. What’s more, when looking at emergency responses, incidents involving officers with CIT training were more likely to result in transport to mental health services and le