DE-ESCALATE WITH CONFIDENCE
Enhancing Communication for Every Situation
Improve your team's effectiveness with our Verbal Skills Training that is brought to your location, designed specifically for organizations navigating emotionally charged situations. Our program equips participants with the tools and techniques to communicate calmly and effectively, fostering understanding and resolution. By improving verbal skills, your team can better manage conflicts and support individuals in distress. Invest in this essential training to empower your workforce and create a safer environment.
Who is Mourning Fox?
Mourning Fox has over 30 years of experience in the mental health field and was the Deputy Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Mental Health (DMH) for four and a half years. He is currently the first Director of Mental Health Programs for the Vermont Department of Public Safety where he implemented and coordinates the Embedded Mental Health Crisis Specialist Program. Fox also currently teaches Verbal De-escalation skills at the Vermont Police Academy for all law enforcement officers in the state of Vermont. He is also a member of the Vermont Interagency Threat Assessment Team. For six years Fox was the director of maximum security inpatient forensic units at Bridgewater State Hospital where individuals were placed when they were involved in the criminal justice system and had significant mental health needs. There he provided initial and ongoing mandatory violence prevention/de-escalation training for all the clinical and correctional staff at the hospital. He is also a 2009 graduate and Class President of the Plymouth Massachusetts Police Academy’s Basic Reserve Academy and recipient of the Brian Daley Academic Excellence Award. Fox has worked with the FBI and Special Operations Tactical International as a Hostage/Crisis Negotiator. He was the first non-correctional officer appointed as a Hostage Negotiator for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. He has been certified as a NAPPI (Non-Abusive Psychological and Physical Interventions) instructor, a CPI (Crisis Prevention Institute) trainer and a Mental Health First Aid trainer. Fox created a well-received nationally used webinar training for college and university police/security personnel through the National Center for Campus Public Safety. He developed the counseling center at Earlham College, his alma mater. While at Earlham, he also started the student lead Peer Counseling Program and Peer Mediation Center. Fox has provided Violence Prevention and De-escalation training and consultation to many law enforcement agencies throughout New England, as well as to a myriad of social service providers, educators and others. He helped create the Team Two Vermont curriculum (this training brings law enforcement and mental health clinicians together) and remains a member of the Team Two Steering Committee and one of its lead trainers. He was also appointed by the Governor of Vermont to be the co-chair of the Vermont Community Violence Prevention Task Force in 2019.  Fox remains a member of the Vermont Mental Health Crisis Response Commission that reviews interactions with law enforcement and persons having a mental health crisis that resulted in serious injury or death. Prior to his work in the mental health field, Fox was a special education teacher working with middle and high school students.
Our Services
Violence Prevention and Verbal De-escalation
Verbal de-escalation training is a valuable skillset that equips individuals with effective communication tools to navigate tense and potentially volatile situations. Mourning Fox’s training is dynamic and engaging, no matter if this is a new topic for a participant or a well-seasoned clinician. He focuses on preventing violence through assessment and verbal interactions. Participants in this training gain skills and knowledge to help them to better identify who is at risk of becoming violent or aggressive, and what the behavioral signs are that someone may be potentially assaultive. Participants learn skills and techniques that can help to de-escalate high intensity situations verbally. In addition, he presents methods for improving staff communication around and during a crisis as well as the importance of documentation language.  The role of Respect as a protective factor is discussed throughout the training as well as some basic brain science that can impact our attempts at de-escalating a situation. He uses information he has gained over the years as a Crisis Prevention Institute trainer, a Non-Abusive Physical and Psychological Intervention trainer, and as a Mental Health First Aid trainer combined with information he gained as a trained crisis negotiator working with law enforcement. This training ultimately aims to promote conflict resolution through dialogue, creating safer and more harmonious interactions in various settings.
Verbal De-escalation Practicum
After learning the basic skills of verbal de-escalation, it is imperative that staff are able to practice these skills. Verbal skills, like any other skills, are perishable and need to be practiced to be most effective. Contact us for details.
Trauma Informed Care Verbal De-escalation
This Verbal De-escalation class is specifically designed to bring the concepts of Trauma Informed Care to the work of De-escalation. Those workingin the Human Services field will find this to be particularly impactful. As a part of this training, one of the trainers is an individual with their own lived experience with mental health crises and addiction. Learn how having a deeper understanding of trauma can improve our ability to support others through their crisis and increase our safety.
Violence Prevention Consultation
If you or your organization are looking for insights as to how to improve the safety of your staff, we can help review practices, policies and physical plant limitations.
