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One Voice advocating Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

Florida CIT Coalition

CIT began in Memphis, Tennessee in the late 1980's and has been widely adopted around the country.

The Florida CIT Coalition is a group of communities throughout Florida that are currently doing CIT based on the Memphis Model. This group came together in March 2004 to share their experiences and to create a vision for the State of Florida for statewide implementation of CIT. The Florida Coalition determined that it was important to ensure the integrity of the Memphis Model was maintained and therefore created the Florida CIT Model based on the core principles of the Memphis Model.

Members of the Florida CIT Coalition include representation from mental health providers, law enforcement agencies and advocacy organizations to include national Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health Associations. Other stakeholders involved include representation from The Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida, Florida International University, the Department of Children and Families, Federal Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Council for Behavioral Healthcare and the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association.

The mission of the Florida CIT Coalition is to promote
the Florida CIT Program Model for its adoption in all Florida
Communities and to foster excellence using the core key elements

The goals of the Florida CIT Coalition are:

  • Promote CIT to other communities for implementation
  • To provide technical assistance to other communities for CIT expansion
  • To promote and provide regional training for CIT trained officers/deputies
  • To ensure sustainability of CIT in Florida
  • To gather useful data around the efficacy of the CIT program

The Florida CIT Coalition meets quarterly to work on expansion of the CIT model, share experiences, network and develop strategies for improving their programs and ensuring sustainability of CIT in Florida.

To Join the Florida CIT Coalition contact:

Michele Saunders, LCSW
Florida CIT Coalition Chair
407/574-7182
msaunders@flpic.org