Capital Region Housing

Capital Region Housing (CRH) is the largest provider of social and near market housing in the Edmonton area, managing over 4500 social housing rental units and over 600 affordable housing rental units. CRH also administers two rent subsidy programs for Edmonton and surrounding communities.

CRH received 3 full days of mental health and de-escalation training for over 100 staff in the fall of 2017. We were trained both in mental health awareness and in hands on skill development for de-escalating situations that might arise when dealing with customers who are struggling with their mental health, anger and frustration, and/or addictions.

We felt this training would be beneficial for all our staff to help us understand the potential lived realities of some of our customers, gain knowledge on mental illness, learn about and actively practice skills in de-escalation with the goal of ensuring safety for both our staff and customers, and work towards creating trusting and respectful relationships with those we serve. ProTraining provided us with a quality training that addressed these outcomes.

Through collaborative meetings with ProTraining and some key staff at CRH, the training provided was relevant, mindful of our work-place realities, and customized to our needs. In addition to the online training and the full day in-person training for all our staff, we also received customized resources on how to engage in de-escalation.

Throughout the entire process ProTraining was attentive to our needs, proved they were highly qualified in the work they do, and a pleasure to work with. We would highly recommend the training to other housing organizations.

After the training we received great feedback from staff, including the following:

“The training yesterday was great. I think that is the most impactful type of session and I’ve certainly felt today that I’ve been able to apply the skills we learned.”

“The training presented me as a new employee of CRH to encounter real life scenarios my colleagues could potentially be dealing with on a daily basis. My participation impacted the level of respect I held for my counterparts who work first hand with our clients.”

“I found it very informative. It showed me what I could improve on when dealing with the tenants. And showed me what my co workers deal with when they go on site. Learned a lot of new techniques in dealing with tenants on the phone and in person.”

“I am grateful to have received the ProTraining, I found it very helpful with communication strategies for dealing with difficult people or challenging situations. I have already had the opportunity to use these skills with success. I believe these skills are paramount in our organization.”

Thanks ProTraining!

Winnipeg Police Service

The Winnipeg Police Service is committed to protecting vulnerable persons as well as enhancing training and professionalism in its members. The Winnipeg Police Service began working with ProTraining in 2016. Since then, ProTraining has provided four on-line training modules and scenario-based training that has given Winnipeg Police Members a clear set of response tools to use when encountering persons in crisis, preventing the incidents from escalating, and to de-escalate high stress, volatile encounters.

ProTraining was very professional and thorough. They were excellent to deal with and timely with information and I would recommend ProTraining to other police organizations. ProTraining met our expectations and the training went extremely well. They have helped us grow our recruit and in-service training options respecting Mental Health, and Crisis Response. It’s about fostering an environment for learning and seeing the pillars of training come alive in the field.

Deputy Chief Gordon Perrier
Winnipeg Police Service
Winnipeg, Canada
1500 members trained

University of Saskatchewan

The experiential component of this online course has made it possible for Protective Services to accrue tangible benefits such as increased member empathy and improved intervention skills in both a time and cost-effective manner. Training was realistic, helpful, and informative; it helped our Protective Service officers de-escalate and minimize dangerous situations. It fits the need of our organization and has positively benefitted our officers and the individuals they interact with.

Anecdotally, our members are demonstrating an increase in confidence and efficiency in responding to mental health “calls for assistance”. More importantly, though, we’ve sensed an increased awareness by our members of both the complexity of mental health issues and the effectiveness of an empathic, compassionate, and knowledgeable approach to providing assistance.

We have incorporated ProTraining’s interactive and engaging Online training (Unit 1) and Hands-on training (Unit 2) into our training curriculum. It is our expectation, based on our experience thus far, that we will be training our members annually through this program. We are also looking at opportunities to engage other stakeholders in the university community with the program. It is an essential component in our present and future training endeavors.

Sgt. Stewart Cuzner
Protective Service Officer
University of Saskatchewan,
Saskatoon, Canada

Paradise Valley Police Department

Paradise Valley has worked with ProTraining for two years. We were looking for an online option to present baseline mental health communication skills to the officers, one that was low-cost, minimal travel, and a course that would not strip the patrol schedule of officers all at the same time. ProTraining has helped because they provide the ability for officers to take the course on their own time, without generating overtime or travel expense. They provide an easy format to get needed information through online access and flexible scheduling. They developed the skills of increased mental health awareness and increased communication skills in my officers.

Yasmeen has been great to work with as an account representative. Communication is easy through email, with quick replies. ProTraining brings an ease of use, online platform, and the ability to provide training with flexible schedule without overtime. The online training provided the officers a good baseline of skills to identify people in mental health crisis. ProTraining met my expectations and I would recommend ProTraining to other police organizations.

Peter Wingert
Chief of Police
Paradise Valley Police Department
Paradise Valley, Arizona

University of Rhode Island Police

We have been working with ProTraining since January of 2017. The reason for taking on their training was that we liked the fact it was interactive training and we noticed challenges with sensitivity of the officers towards mental health interactions and having them remember that these situations take time and you need to really listen to the person in crisis and always be aware of officer safety. ProTraining helped because this is a perishable skill and this training was a great way to refresh their memories as to the importance of this skill.

Yasmeen was a great help and very patient. It took our department a few months to jump onboard but Yasmeen hung in there with me. Once we got underway with the training we had a few glitches with people receiving the e-mails and Yasmeen was kind enough to keep resending the training and the updates as to who has completed the training and who has not. We had one officer leave the department before they took the training and Yasmeen changed the name and e-mail.

We have done these trainings in the past but never online. The officers have the skills but if you do not use it, you lose it. So, the training helped refresh their skills. This training saved the department money on overtime and travel expenses. The professionalism of ProTraining was Outstanding!! It was always a pleasure to communicate with them both over the phone and through e-mails. I would most definitely recommend ProTraining to other police organizations. The interactive training is most valuable because it really gets the officer to think.

ProTraining brings good training at a great price, and they are always willing to assist in a timely manner. The training was very helpful and very realistic scenarios. It really made the officers think about what to do next and not to get tunnel vision, to be aware of their surroundings. ProTraining has exceeded my expectations!

As a 28 year police veteran and a member of the university Behavioral Intervention Team. I highly recommend this training to all police and security officers. This training can be done during the officer’s regular tour of duty so the department can save on overtime and travel expenses, a plus for any department budget.

Lt. Michael Donohue
University of Rhode Island Police
Department of Public Safety
Rhode Island, USA

Las Cruces Police Department

My Department has a designated team who is tasked with training our department in Crisis Intervention. We have a larger department of around 200 officers that need to be trained in crisis intervention every other year. It is difficult sometimes for 2 or 3 trainers to handle making sure all of them get trained. To broaden officer knowledge and utilize this training as a recertification, ProTraining was approached to help us.

We have been working with ProTraining for 6 months. They have helped my Crisis Intervention Team in developing new scenarios and techniques to better update our classes. They listened to our needs when we asked for their course to be accredited through New Mexico’s Department of Public Safety by doing all of the legwork. They got it approved within 2 weeks of our request.

ProTraining has been amazing. They are just a phone call away and are great in returning and answering phone calls at any time. It was great dealing with Yasmeen, she is understanding of the situation and does not push to sell product. You can tell she truly cares about helping train officers.

I noticed that my officers have taken more time to think of the consequences of their word choice and appearance when dealing with emotionally disturbed subjects.

ProTraining met my expectations and I would recommend this training for any agency that needs crisis intervention training and cannot afford to send officers to a class. This is excellent online training that is interactive and isn’t just death by PowerPoint. The training went very well and I had a lot of positive feedback about the course.

It is great training. With everything going on in this time of police work every law enforcement agency needs some type of Crisis Training and this program can help start that and or maintain current programs already going.

Officer J. Milks L863
Crisis Intervention Officer
Las Cruces Police Department

Hartland Police Department

The ProTraining online class was very helpful for de-escalating possible situations with people suffering from mental health. I thought the scenarios were helpful and nteractive… It is an informative class that would help de-escalate or minimize dangerous situations. Officers understand that officer safety comes first; however, the talking points of the online training are extra tools to put in your toolbox. Training is short and concise. I would recommend ProTraining’s online course for mental health awareness.

Brian D DeBarge
Police Officer
Hartland Police Department
Wisconsin, USA

University of Alberta

"I recently completed the ProTraining course. I was definitely impressed. I enjoyed how the course was delivered, especially the scenarios with the meter. De-escalation skills are something I want to impress upon our officers as part of training and the course did an excellent job providing/re-enforcing them! I definitely think taking this course would be a great complement to our existing mental health training."

Sgt. Neil Purkess
Community Liaison Officer
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Canada

Metro Vancouver Transit Police

I particularly liked your format. I could use audio, text or both for each slide. I liked the ability to move back and forth in the content, as I needed. I also liked it when you provided examples of “what not to do immediately followed by what they should do.” I know that sounds obvious but we often just tell them what they did wrong and what they really need is examples / models of approaches that work. I especially liked the “Avoid Escalating Phrases slide”.

The content was very good and it was probably the best format I have seen. Whether we like it or not “how” training material is presented can make a significant difference in a police officer’s reaction. I am confident you will get a positive response from officers who view this material. I liked it and I would recommend it.

Sgt. Dave Olson
Metro Vancouver Transit Police, client services
Retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 27 years

Clear Lake Police Department

The Clear Lake Police Department took the opportunity to train all of its officers in the ProTraining de-escalation system. This training helped officers in dealing with difficult mental health cases and made officers aware of their approach to these incidents. The training was well developed, professional level training delivered on a platform that allow officers to complete during on-duty time. The on-line learning platform reduces cost of training off-site, yet provides a very beneficial product.

Working with ProTraining Staff was excellent. ProTraining staff was able to walk me through administrator issues with ease. The system was very user-friendly and administration of the training was very easy.

ProTraining met all of our expectations. Officers enjoyed learning in this environment and look forward to future training in this method.

Chief Tim Strohbusch
Clear Lake Police Department
Clear Lake Wisconsin