Kraichely called for emergency medical services. While waiting, he said, he helped the man stay calm, asking about his work, hobbies and children to refocus him.
“I was able to confidently explain to him what would happen from here,” Kraichely said. He suggested a local hospital with behavioral health services. The man chose to go there and was doing better when Kraichely later followed up.
“Penn State Health laid out a really good foundation that I was able to build upon,” Kraichely said.
Turning crisis into care
Starting in the 1950s, reports of poor conditions in state psychiatric hospitals sparked public concern, leading to widespread closures and downsizing. The aim was to shift care for people with mental illness into local communities, but funding never matched the need. Today, the American Psychological Association reports about 20% of police calls involve a mental health or substance use crisis.
“Mental health has been a huge focus of our training,” said Pennsylvania State Police Sergeant Logan Brouse. “Having the skills to deal with mental health calls effectively helps everybody.”
The training can improve care for people with mental illness, their families and communities, reduce use-of-force incidents, support officer safety and strengthen relations between police and the community.
The “Keystone Model of Crisis Management” workshop, developed in partnership between Penn State Health and the State Police Academy, reinforces the existing State Police curriculum, explained Lieutenant Alan Zulick of Pennsylvania State Police’s Bureau of Training and Education.
“It’s our duty to help someone in distress, and this training gives cadets the opportunity to develop and practice skills that help stabilize someone experiencing a crisis,” Zulick said.
The workshop provides cadets with new tools they can carry in the field, said Terry Brosche, a Penn State Health simulation educator and nurse.
“It’s like first-aid training, where you stop the bleeding until more help arrives,” she said. “They learn what to say and do to help someone in crisis deal with their situation in the moment and access resources to continue their healing.”
The goal, said Ruth Moore, Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute community relations director, is to equip cadets with skills to deescalate mental health and addiction situations, stabilize people and connect them with treatment. She teaches a class called “Mental Health Signs and Symptoms” that enhances the State Police training.
“We give the cadets strategies, including questions to ask and body language to look for,” Moore said.
View a photo gallery from this initiative.
Learning by doing
During a summer class for cadets at the State Police Academy, actors — known as “standardized patients” — depicted people with behavioral and mental health challenges such as autism, psychosis and bipolar disorder, in scenes.
A nonverbal child shrieked with panic. An older man wandered a store loudly insisting he was a professional baseball player late for practice. A young man waiting for popcorn at a movie theater yelled at others in line.
After each scene, licensed mental health experts from Penn State College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health and nurses from Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center shared practical tips like softening tone of voice, avoiding flashing lights to help someone stay calm and supporting a person experiencing delusions without challenging them.
Some cadets then joined the actors on stage to defuse the situations.
“Being able to see it and hear it firsthand was a huge help in learning how to deal with situations like that,” said Andrew McCabe, an August 2025 graduate of the academy.
McCabe said he plans to connect with local mental health services agencies and carry their contact information to share with people in need. “The people you encounter might not even know about this kind of help,” he said.