As a corrections officer in the Cambria County Prison, Matt Hale said there are a lot of prisoners with mental illnesses, which is why he registered for the Crisis Intervention Team training to learn how to deal with people with mental disorders.

“Once you’re in a prison setting, you’re in there with him. So the best thing you can do is to give yourself the most tools you can to work with people that have mental disabilities,” said Matt Hale, a corrections officer at the Cambria County Prison.

The goal is to teach law enforcement how to help people with mental disorders. Mental health professionals and law enforcement officials teach officers how to recognize and handle those crisis situations.

The Laurel Highlands Region Crisis Intervention Team offers a course each year for people in Cambria, Somerset and Bedford Counties.

The students have been learning all week how to safely de-escalate situations. Thursday, they put their knowledge to the test, acting out different scenarios and how they should respond.

Detective Kevin Gaudlip was one of the first three officers in the state to be CIT certified back in 2006. He’s taught the CIT certification course for ten years and says it takes compassion to be a CIT officer.

“Everyone’s a human being. We all have families. Many of the officers that come to the class have family or friends that are affected by individuals with mental disabilities, so they know the challenges they have in dealing with their own illness,” said Detective Kevin Gaudlip from the Richland Township Police Department.

The students will graduate from the course Friday afternoon. Gaudlip said he’s looking forward to seeing how the students use their new skills.

Hale said he feels better prepared to keep himself, his coworkers and the other prisoners safe.

“We have to look out for the safety of the officers, the safety of everyone else in the facility. So absolutely, it’s going to help me be better prepared to make sure that all of those things will be exhausted and everyone is going home at night safe,” said Hale.