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Santa Barbara, CA, Month Date, 2024 – Dr. Cherylynn Lee, Police Psychologist and Behavioral Sciences Manager at Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office was recently awarded the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Behavioral Healthcare Practitioner of the Year Award by CIT International for their upcoming annual conference which will be held in Indianapolis, IN from Aug. 26-28, 2024. It is anticipated there will be over 1,400 attendees representing law enforcement professionals, behavioral healthcare providers and advocates.
This award recognizes a person who demonstrates exemplary, ongoing commitment to being actively involved with CIT community partnerships and works to improve access to services within their own system or with the community mental health system.
Dr. Cherylynn Lee is a police psychologist who started at the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office as a volunteer. She was well regarded in that position and offered a part-time, and then a full-time job to start the Behavioral Sciences Unit. She also created the agency’s first co-response program in partnership with county mental health. Dr. Lee wrote her department’s first 8-hour and 40-hour CIT curriculum and actively teaches the courses with wait lists due to its popularity amongst law enforcement. She works tirelessly to provide cutting-edge training and brings in relevant and well-regarded subject matter experts to assist in the teaching. She not only teaches the CIT training but has developed a program where the community feels safe contacting law enforcement and our co-response teams for mental health crisis assistance. Dr. Lee is the bridge between all things mental health and law enforcement in her community and works tirelessly to improve system understanding and access.
The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program is a community partnership of law enforcement, mental health and substance use professionals, individuals who live with mental illness and/or substance use disorders, their families, and other advocates. More information is available at www.citinternational.org