Crisis Training Institute
The Crisis Training Institute of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC provides a wide range of programs and consulting services. Our programs focus on:
- Crisis prevention and intervention
- Stress management
- Suicide intervention
- The mental health component of disaster response
These programs and services help behavioral health, schools, health care, substance abuse programs, and public safety professionals perform effectively in crisis-related or potentially violent situations.
Crisis Training Institute programs help to:
- Increase confidence and intervention skills in crisis situations
- Maximize team effectiveness and cohesion in the midst of a crisis
- Minimize the impact of traumatic stress on individuals involved in a crisis response
- Understand the impact of trauma and the importance of providing trauma-informed care
- Identify key factors in the safe resolution of crisis situations
- Assist staff in the use of stress appraisal to identify ways to cope with stressful situations
- Enhance suicide awareness and provide intervention skills to work more effectively with an individual at risk for suicide
Our Experts
Our professional team members are experienced in the fields of mental health, crisis management, education, drug and alcohol, and behavioral health outreach. The team’s collective background includes clinical management and education as well as psychiatric nursing, intellectual disability, behavioral health response, and crisis experience, including phone, mobile, walk-in, and residential.
Jeffrey D. Magill, MS, CTR
Mr. Magill is Project Coordinator of the Behavioral Health Emergency Management and the manager for the Crisis Training Institute of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC. For more than 20 years, Mr. Magill responded to crisis situations, providing behavioral health support in times of need to individuals in various settings, including health care facilities, businesses, schools, and in the community.
Mr. Magill manages operations of Western Psychiatric’s Behavioral Health Response Team, which actively responds to adverse events throughout the local area. The response team provides crisis stabilization interventions to individuals who are impacted by a critical event. Mr. Magill has experience developing and teaching training programs in crisis management, suicide prevention and assessment, emergency preparedness, and behavioral health response to crisis situations.
Mr. Magill co-authored the “Comprehensive Crisis Management” (CCM) program, is a master trainer for Livingworks in the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST). He is an approved instructor for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in “Assisting Individuals in Crisis and the Group Crisis Intervention Training” classes.
Daniel Lichok
Mr. Lichok is a Crisis Trainer for the Crisis Training Institute through Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC. Prior to becoming a crisis trainer, he worked as a phone clinician at resolve Crisis Services near Pittsburgh. During his time as a phone clinician, Mr. Lichok had the opportunity to provide training on many occasions to staff at Western Psychiatric and at other mental health facilities.
Mr. Lichok is a member of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic Mental Health Disaster Response Team. He has responded to multiple incidents in the community and in several school districts.
Mr. Lichok’s experience includes working with intellectually disabled individuals, working with children in community and school settings, and working with adults whose conditions span the mental health spectrum.
Mollie Moreci
Ms. Moreci is a Crisis Trainer for the Crisis Training Institute, part of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC. She has dedicated much of her life, professionally and in an extracurricular capacity, to working with individuals with varying specialized needs. She earned her Bachelors of Arts from The College of Wooster, with a focus in sociology and psychology. Prior to joining the Crisis Training Institute she was teaching comprehensive crisis management trainings as part of her full-time responsibilities with The Conroy Merck Intensive Treatment and The Merck Summer Intensive Treatment Programs through Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. During her eight years with Merck, she worked in partnership with Pittsburgh Public Schools as a clinician in a classroom setting. The classrooms double as partial treatment for students, ages 5-21, with dual diagnoses of developmental disorders and significant behavioral issues. Mollie brings a thoughtful and holistic approach to working with the individuals she encounters in her professional role. As a clinician she stresses the importance of utilizing the least-restrictive intervention model, which the CCM program embodies.
Currently, Ms. Moreci is a trainer for the Comprehensive Crisis Management Program (CCM) and is trained in the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills (ASIST) Training. She is eager to share the concepts and methods of the Comprehensive Crisis Management training and its least-restrictive intervention model with other professionals, as they have been an invaluable facet of her work as a clinician, teacher, and caretaker in community, in-home, clinical, residential, extracurricular, and school environments; both domestic and international.
Our Track Record
Our programs have been implemented at UPMC hospitals, including Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC, and at other hospitals including Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Watson Institute, Indiana Regional Medical Center, Sibley Memorial Hospital, and Children's Hospital of Chicago.
Crisis Training Institute
To learn more about our programs or to schedule a consultation, please call 412-864-5049.
A full list of upcoming trainings can be found under the Office of Education and Regional Program's website.
Individuals can register for our trainings through the UPMC Class and Events Online Registration website.
