FAQ

Questions and answers to help you get the most from CPI.
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Why do organizations use Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training?

Organizations love the results they achieve for both staff and service users. 95% improve their de-escalation skills and overall safety. 40% reduce challenging behaviors by more than half. 84% reduce restraint use by at least a quarter. And some eliminate restraint use entirely. Other benefits include reducing injuries, complying with laws and standards, improving staff confidence, and preventing challenging behaviors from occurring at all.

“CPI training allows our staff to get in front of situations BEFORE they can occur. It helps us make prevention our best intervention.” —D.C. Foster, Behavioral Health Intervention Specialist, Arizona State Hospital

How does Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training work?

Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training is a train-the-trainer program. First, we teach you the Foundation Course. Next, we teach you how to teach what you’ve learned to your colleagues. Then, you’re a Certified Instructor, authorized to teach Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® programs to staff in your organization.

Who should become a Certified Instructor?

The right people to teach your in-house trainings are the staff members who lead by example. If you champion best practices, that’s you!

Can I get my Instructor training online?

You can get CPI Instructor training partially online. With our blended learning platform, you start with two to three hours of online learning at a time and place that works for you. Then you finish training with three days in the classroom. If you prefer to learn entirely in person, our traditional four-day classroom option is the choice for you. View both options!

Where can I get Instructor training?

You also have flexibility when it comes to where to get training. One option is to host a training right onsite at your organization. With this choice, we come to you. Another option is to come to us. With this choice, you travel to a regularly scheduled public training in a city near you.

How many Certified Instructors should we have?

This depends on your organization’s goals and size. The more Instructors you have on staff, the more experts you have to train other employees, problem solve, review policies, debrief incidents, and help staff prevent future incidents from occurring at all. Having the right number of Instructors also helps you manage turnover with fewer bumps in the road. And of course a group home with 12 staff, a school district with 1,500 personnel, and a hospital system with 200,000 employees will all have different needs. Want help determining how many Instructors will benefit your organization? Get in touch!

How do we determine which staff to train?

Workplace violence prevention is everyone’s responsibility. And prevention training truly equates to reducing violence. That’s why most organizations aim to train everyone who has an opportunity to de-escalate and prevent, which is everyone who comes into contact with the people you serve. While not all staff face the same level of risk, all staff benefit from some degree of training. Want help determining who needs awareness training and who needs full training? We’re happy to help you determine which techniques will benefit which groups of staff.

Does this training actually work?

There’s loads of evidence that CPI training truly works. That said, teaching staff everything they need to know about how to manage and prevent crisis situations would be difficult to achieve in a single training session. That’s why it’s important for your staff trainings to be an ongoing process. The best-practice strategies we’ve developed over the years make up the Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® Training Process. With training at the center, seven components bolster your ongoing efforts to equip staff with time-tested strategies. You’ll find our implementation support a huge help too!

Can we train staff online?

We know that time to train staff is tough to find. It’s also costly to schedule replacement staff. That’s why we created our blended-learning platform, which combines online and classroom training. It allows you to train more staff in less time.

Are there more ways we can train online?

When it comes to ongoing training, we have loads of solutions for you. Our eLearning options include Video on Demand, webinars, podcasts, and online courses available in our Learning Management System and your Instructor account.

Can CPI help with specific issues we’re dealing with?

You bet. Whatever you’re facing, we offer you more delivery options than any other training provider. As an Instructor, you can teach deep-dive content on topics like autism and physical skills. You can also teach on topics like workplace bullying, substance abuse, mental illness, intervening alone, dealing with weapons, and so much more. Need to teach parents and caregivers? Try our Sharing Strategies workbook! With CPI, you have countless options to make your trainings relevant and fresh. You could train for 10 years, address dozens of issues, and never teach the same program twice!

How do I remain an Instructor?

To maintain your two-year CPI Instructor certification, we have quality standards for you that work in harmony with our quality support. The standards help you build confidence and competence as an Instructor so you can be the best trainer you can be.

Is CPI basically restraint training?

Not at all. In fact, with proper implementation of CPI, you’ll reduce or even eliminate the use of restraint. That’s why if you have a hands-off policy or you need to comply with restraint reduction standards, CPI training is for you. The emphasis is on prevention—and on using physical restraint only as a last resort. The training teaches you the risks of restraint, how to identify true last-resort situations, and how to use nonharmful holding skills only when a person presents an immediate physical danger to self or others. You’ll learn how to use physical skills only when they can’t be avoided, always for as brief a time as possible, and never in a way that involves pain, coercion, or compliance. If you choose, you can omit holding skills from the trainings you teach. And we’re always here to help you advocate that the safest restraint is the one that’s never used. After all, Prevention is our middle name. And it’s why we created the Restraint Reduction Network™.

Can CPI help us meet regulatory standards?

Absolutely.

​If I have another question, where can I get the answer?We’re happy to help.