Crisis Training Institute

The Crisis Training Institute of UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital 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

Mr. Magill is the Emergency Management Coordinator, Crisis Training Institute Manager, and ASAP Staff Support Team Leader for the Crisis Training Institute of UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. 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 UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital'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 UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. 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 co-authored the “Comprehensive Crisis Management” (CCM) program for which he is a master trainer, is a master trainer for Livingworks in the Applied Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), and he is an approved instructor for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in “Assisting Individuals in Crisis and Group Crisis Intervention Training” classes.

Mollie Moreci

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 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 UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. 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.

Jacqueline Nicolay

Ms. Nicolay is a Crisis Trainer for the Crisis Training Institute at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. She started at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital as a Student Nursing Assistant in 2007. 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 Hospital, 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 Hospital. 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 Hospital.

Joseph Mussori

Mr. Mussori has been with UPMC/UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital since 2009. During this time, he has held various positions within the organization including: Therapeutic Staff Support, Milieu Therapist I, Evaluator Clinician, Mobile Crisis Clinician, Supervisor at Resolve, and currently Crisis Trainer. Joe has gained valuable experiences in his various roles within the organization and he incorporates many examples of these into the crisis trainings. Joe received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.

Our Track Record

Our programs have been implemented at UPMC hospitals, including UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, 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.