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The Crisis Training Institute (CTI) of UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital provides a wide range of programs and consulting services. Our programs focus on:
These programs and services help individuals across a wide variety of disciplines perform effectively in crisis-related or potentially violent situations. Our programs are currently being used in many settings, including mental and behavioral health services, schools, medical facilities, substance use treatments, nursing homes, group homes, security organizations, response teams, and long-term treatment facilities.
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 milieu management, intellectual disabilities, behavioral health response, and crisis experiences in phone, mobile, walk-in, and residential.
Mr. Magill is manager for emergency preparedness and the Crisis Training Institute and is co-coordinator of the As Soon As Possible (ASAP) Staff Support Team at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. For more than 25 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 UPMC Western Psychiatric's ASAP Staff Support Team. He 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 and is an approved instructor for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in “Assisting Individuals in Crisis and the Group Crisis Intervention Training” classes.
Mr. Lichok is a senior crisis trainer and co-coordinator of the ASAP Staff Support Team at UPMC Western Psychiatric. Prior to working for UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, Mr. Lichok worked in direct care for individuals with intellectual disabilities, wrap-around services, and caseworker services. Prior to becoming a crisis trainer, he was a clinician at resolve Crisis Services. During his time at resolve, Mr. Lichok worked in the phone, mobile, and walk-in departments and had the opportunity to provide training on many occasions to staff at UPMC Western Psychiatric and other mental health facilities.
Mr. Lichok co-authored the “Comprehensive Crisis Management” (CCM) program where he is a master trainer, is a master trainer for Livingworks in the Applied Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), and is an approved instructor for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in “Assisting Individuals in Crisis and Group Crisis Intervention Training” classes.
Ms. Moreci is a crisis trainer for the Crisis Training Institute, part of UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. She has dedicated much of her life, professionally and in an extracurricular capacity, to working with individuals with varying specialized needs. She earned her bachelor's degree 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 UPMC Western Psychiatric. 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 CCM 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.
Ms. Nicolay is a senior crisis trainer for the Crisis Training Institute at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. She started at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital in 2007 as a student nursing assistant.
She then became a milieu therapist at the hospital in 2009. She was hired as a resource staff, which gave her the opportunity to work on each inpatient unit in the hospital. This provided her with more experience working with a wide variety of diagnosis and age groups in the hospital.
As a resource staff, Ms. Nicolay also assisted in nursing administration as requested. She was able to gain experience on the administrative side of UPMC Western Psychiatric, which led her to becoming a crisis trainer for the CCM program in 2012. She has since become a CPR instructor and Stop the Bleed instructor as well.
In June of 2016, Ms. Nicolay became a full time Crisis Trainer for UPMC Western Psychiatric. With this she also had the privilege of being trained to be a part of the UPMC ASAP Support Team/CISM team.
She is also a lead in the Advanced Response Training at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital and takes great pride in training fellow staff members how to be a patient advocates and how to remain safe in their line of work with the use of least restrictive interventions.
On occasion Ms. Nicolay gets the privilege of moonlighting on the inpatient units to continue to practice her clinical skills and build a greater rapport with staff and patients at UPMC Western Psychiatric.
Joseph Shirey is a crisis trainer for the Crisis Training Institute at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. He earned his bachelor's degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, majoring in psychology and minoring in sociology.
Upon graduation, he worked for Mercy Behavioral Health in a residential setting working with individuals with a schizophrenia diagnosis for 2 years.
He started at UPMC Western Psychiatric as a milieu therapist in 2014 on the John Merck Program, working with individuals on the autism spectrum.
Joseph is passionate about helping those with mental health diagnosis and intellectual disabilities. He became interested in crisis training after becoming a preceptor and helping new hires develop their clinical skills and incorporating least restrictive interventions into their repertoire.
Our programs have been implemented at UPMC Hospital, including UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, and at other hospitals including Children’s Hospital of Orange County, The Watson Institute, Indiana Regional Medical Center, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Penn Highlands Health System, Pine Richland School District, Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Clairton City School District, and South Fayette School District, along with many more.
To learn more about our programs or to schedule a consultation, please call 412-589-6302.
Crisis Training Institute programs include:
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