BUTLER TWP — Sometimes it’s the way you position your body or hold your hand. Often the tone of your voice is as important as what you say. Sincerity and honesty are salient.

People in crisis, especially those who have mental illness, can be quickly enraged or, conversely, calmed in a manner that builds trust and respect.

Recognizing that it’s often police, paramedics or other first responders who meet an individual in those critical moments, an effort is under way in Butler County to train first responders in crisis management.

The Southwest Regional Crisis Intervention Team, which pairs officials from this county with sister agencies in Armstrong, Indiana and Westmoreland counties, already has been recognized with the 2014 Governor’s Award for Local Government Excellence.

Butler County Deputy Sheriff Mark Peffer, an instructor and organizer, said that before the start of this program only limited, nonfocused training on this topic was available.

“This is such a huge step,” said organizer Felicia King of Mental Health America, based in Greensburg, about this training. “This is an effort to let people know that we understand they really are ill.”

King said proper handling of a crisis situation can get people the help they need faster and in a manner more beneficial to the community as a whole.

In only its second year of existence, the team is having its second qualifying course next week at Butler County Community College’s Public Safety Training Building.

Two dozen people, mainly police officers, are enrolled.

Peffer and Richard Wozniak, a supervisor at the Center for Community Resources, were trained earlier. And another three county police officers participated in the first regional class in January in New Kensington.

It’s a 40-hour course spread over five days. The classes address a number of topics each day, including psychotropic medications, teenage suicide and borderline personality disorders.

Also included in the training is crisis role-playing by trained volunteers from CCR and the Community Health Connection and on-site visits to the Clarence Brown Community School and the Grapevine Drop-In Center.

The school in Butler enrolls students with special needs from the region that includes more than two dozen school districts. The drop-in center offers programs to people with mental illness.

The regional team is funded by grants from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the Stounton Farm Foundation and local sources.

There’s no cost to the participants. And the officials who pay the participants’ salaries are reimbursed $500 for that persons’ salary for the week.

Organizer Sandra Smythe with Westmoreland County 911 pointed out that the skills learned through this program can be put to use in other situations, including day-to-day interaction with the public. As a 911 operator, she said, people facing another crisis such as a tornado or house fire can sometimes react in the same stressed manner as a person facing a mental health crisis.

“I find that I use these skills the most in domestic violence calls,” said Lee Schumaker, public safety director and police officer for Allegheny Township in Westmoreland County.

“There can be stress even in the case of someone being pulled over for a traffic ticket.”

Peffer said, “I think it’s important for people to know that we are invested in our community and we want to improve our skills.”