Frequently Asked Questions

Organizations choose to implement de-escalation and crisis prevention training from CPI for numerous reasons. One of the largest being the safety of their staff. Many roles including that of educators, health care staff, human services professionals, retail team members, security personnel and more find themselves encountering a range of behaviours daily. CPI training provides the skills and confidence to understand those behaviours and prevent them from escalating into violent situations. And a safer staff leads to healthier workplaces, increased staff retention, improved outcomes for clients and overall organizational stability.

See our customer success stories to learn more.

We train de-escalation and behaviour management strategies to decrease conflict in the workplace with training solutions for every role and risk level, in any organization. We are primarily found in service-oriented industries including education, health care, human services, security, behavioural health, dementia care and retail. Learn more.

Yes. CPI training is available through events hosted in your area, on-site with your designated Certified Instructor(s), or delivery directly to your staff.

To learn more about on-site training, schedule a consultation.

To find an event in your area, start here.

CPI programs are offered in an array of formats to accommodate the needs of each organization, accounting for staff’s busy schedules and helping to limit time off the floor. When you explore our programs, you’ll find training delivery options available in the following formats:

• In-Person: Instructor-led training taking place at a physical location, with face-to-face interaction.
• Blended: Any combination of online or live virtual training that also includes an in-person component.
• Live Virtual: Live virtual session led by a Global Professional Instructor.
• Online: Self-paced learning where participants can complete lessons anytime, anywhere.

At CPI, we refer to our training approach as a “train-the-trainer" method. This framework certifies your staff to become de-escalation and crisis prevention experts, who then teach and apply their new skills and behaviours to staff across your organization.

Learn more about our training approach.

Our train-the-trainer framework allows you to customize your training based on staff roles and risk levels, ensuring the right staff receive the right training. This allows for easy implementation across your entire organization, increasing training efficacy and staff safety.

Yes! Joining our growing community of Certified Instructors provides access to free refresher courses to prevent training drift, our biennial Certified Instructors’ Conference to share and gain new skills and access to the largest network of Instructors in your industry, facing similar challenges and aiming for the same workplace safety goals.

As you identify candidates for a CPI Instructor Certification Program, it is essential that you select individuals who are personally dedicated to modeling and facilitating CPI content to your staff. It’s also important to select someone (or those) who can commit to the time required to represent your organization in promoting the Care, Welfare, Safety, and Security^SM of your staff.

Characteristics of successful Certified Instructors include:

• A professional attitude. An ideal candidate should demonstrate compassion and empathy for all individuals and inspire others to be emotionally supportive.
• Appropriate knowledge base. Candidates should have a good understanding and knowledge of best practices in addressing challenging behaviours.
• Verbal and physical competency. An ideal candidate should demonstrate skill in using techniques for de-escalation and management of challenging behaviours.
• Presentation skills. Candidates should be able to present information clearly to individuals and groups alike and successfully control and lead a group.

Depending on the program you are obtaining your certification in, you may take all or a portion of your training in a virtual format. Through our blended offerings, all programs begin with an online course and conclude with either a live virtual or in-person component—or a combination of both. If you prefer to learn entirely in person, our classroom delivery options are the best choice for you.

Find a CPI training program.

CPI recommends a 1:50 Certified Instructor to staff ratio, allowing each Instructor to perform two, 25-person trainings each year to keep skills current. Establishing one Certified Instructor per building within your organization helps empower your staff, leading to quicker, more efficient crisis response times.

Support doesn’t end after your training is complete. We offer ongoing learning, coaching and support to Certified Instructors through free refresher training, phone support for questions and concerns and online resources that include on-demand webinars, training documentation with electronic record-keeping, eNewlsetters and more.

To build and maintain staff skills, training must be an ongoing process. CPI has quality standards in place to help organizations achieve their intended outcomes. To help gauge proficiency and prevent training drift, we require Certified Instructors to attend a program facilitated by CPI every two years.

We believe everyone has a role to play in creating a safer workplace, not just those in “high-risk” positions. That’s why we offer training options such as Prevention First™ Online Training for health care, Reframing Behavior for educators and De-escalation and Violence Prevention Training for Retail that provide foundational skills that lend themselves to easy, organization-wide implementation.

Organizations that implement CPI training across their entire staff see the benefits through quicker, consistent crisis responses, increased staff retention and job satisfaction, better cross-departmental collaboration and communication and more effective trainings for Certified Instructors.

Since 1980, we’ve helped train more than 17 million people in evidence-based crisis prevention and de-escalation techniques, making a sustainable impact across organizations worldwide. Some of our notable success stories include:

• 90% increase in staff retention at Braun Educational Center
• 18,000 staff trained at Duke University Health System
• 85% reduction in safety interventions at Hillside of Atlanta

View additional customer success stories.

At CPI, we truly believe everyone deserves to feel safe in their work environment. We offer free resources to help make many of our strategies and techniques as accessible as possible.

Our Voices of CPI blog series features best practices, tips and more from contributing experts—including Certified Instructors—across several industries.

The CPI Library offers access to free, downloadable guides and resources—by industry—to help you expand your knowledge of CPI best practices. Topics include trauma-informed care, our top de-escalation tips, verbal intervention strategies and many more.

Our Video library provides access to customer testimonials and program overviews. These provide a closer look at our portfolio of training programs and first-hand accounts of the success and strategies utilized by our established CPI customers.

Yes! Our Industry Insights Newsletter delivers timely resources, CPI updates, news and more to help you establish a sustainable culture of safety in your workplace. Sign up to receive our newsletter, here.

Using our 4D approach, we partner with each organization to discover, diagnose, design and deliver proven training in sustainable phases, customized by your unique needs and risks.

During the Discover phase, the CPI Professional Services team will work with you to understand your goals and motivations for pursuing CPI de-escalation training.

Our Diagnose phase will provide you with specific recommendations based on data and your unique needs—all to help you achieve your short- and long-term goals.

During the Design phase, CPI will partner with key stakeholders in your organization to develop your implementation strategy. This is where we’ll discuss technology implementation, direct delivery vs. instructor certification, prioritization of training, training cadence and logistics.

The Deliver phase includes the Instructor Certification Program to establish your certified staff, followed by delivery of training to your staff.

To learn more, schedule a consultation.

CPI training emphasizes safety, consistency and restraints as a last resort. Our programs teach staff to identify and understand behaviours so they can not only create a safer environment from the start but de-escalate and adjust their own behaviour as they see situations arising. Staff can confidently rely on the decision-making skills they’ve learned to respond appropriately and ensure the safest outcome for all involved. The customization of CPI programs also allows for adjustments to training based on individual staff roles and risk levels, so staff that regularly encounter complex or dangerous behaviours gain the skills to confidently mitigate their risk.

CPI works hard to ensure that when your staff participate in CPI de-escalation training, they can also receive Continuing Education credit. We do this by maintaining a variety of program approvals, accreditations, sponsorships and providerships through numerous entities. Each entity is governed by its own set of rules and policies and uses its own terminology regarding credits, hours and units, and how they are calculated.

Learn more about Continuing Education.