De-Escalation Strategies for Youth and Young Adults (formerly called Policing the Teen Brain) is a training program that provides officers with the information and skills they need to effectively interact with youth. The 2-day training translates cutting edge psychiatric practice and neurological research into practical skills for officers to improve, facilitate and help de-escalate interactions with children and youth. These trainings are targeted for patrol officers as well as specialized units, such as school resource officers.


Each Training Includes:

• Command/Management Staff briefing (2-4 hours)
• Lectures, scenario-based examples, interactive discussions, use of films and skits involving community youth
• Baseline and post-training evaluations of officers’ attitudes and knowledge of core competencies for each training

This training provides officers with an intensive overview of how neurological changes occurring in teens’ brains explain many of their hard-to-police behaviors. Through interactive discussions with adolescent development experts and psychiatrists, and using films and community youth as “teaching assistants,” officers learn how to assert authority using alternative techniques and “tricks” to increase compliance from teens and de-escalate volatile situations. Officers receive training to recognize prevalent mental health issues among teens, and learn ice breakers for developing relationships with them. In addition, the training provides an overview of juvenile law for law enforcement, with a special emphasis on Miranda, interrogation practices, and use of detention.

Core Competencies:

• Key Issues in Normative Child & Adolescent Development
• Key Mental Health Issues for Youth
• Key Issues in Juvenile Delinquency Law
• Strategies for Mitigating Demographic & Cultural Influences on Teens
• Strategies for Asserting Authority Effectively with Juveniles
• Strategies for Responding to Challenges of Authority & Allegations