Miri Hospital hosts intensive training for Crisis Intervention Officers

MIRI (Oct 27): The Social Development Council (MPS) under the Ministry of Women, Children and Community Well-being recently organised an intensive ‘Gatekeeper Training for Crisis Intervention Officers’ at Miri Hospital.

The programme, which gathered 98 participants, was in partnership with the Mental Health Association (MHA) Miri branch and Miri Hospital.

Organising spokesperson Dr Ravivarma Rao Panerselvam said that the programme aimed at enhancing the preparedness of crisis intervention officers in handling suicide attempt cases in the state.

“The training used the ‘Advanced C.A.R.E Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Training’ programme module, which was developed by Pheh Kai Shuen, a clinical psychologist at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman’s Department of Psychology and Counselling.

“This module has been proven effective among healthcare practitioners across Malaysia,” he said in a statement on Friday.

“Section 11(5) of the Mental Health Act 2001 (Act 615) defines crisis intervention officers as those of police officers, firefighters, Malaysian Civil Defence Force officers, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency officers, and social welfare officers.

“Under this Act, they are empowered to detain individuals attempting suicide and initiate intervention processes to seek further evaluation,” added Dr Ravivarma.