Two participants swap positions during a staged roleplay.

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CPI training alternatives: comparing de-escalation options

Compare on delivery: who teaches, how often staff practise, and what evidence each option produces.

The search

A renewal date, and a wider look

Instructor certification is due for renewal, a new site is opening, and the education lead asks what else is available. The useful comparison starts with the moments staff face.

A simulated aged-care hallway. A man in his mid-eighties stands holding the rail as a carer wearing the headset approaches. — A carer walks beside an unsettled resident.

A caseworker wearing a headset sits at a desk across from a simulated distressed client holding his head. — A caseworker sits with a client in distress.

A visitor gestures beside a service counter. A first person VR training scenario for AI training and roleplay, seen through the headset. — A visitor explains a problem at the counter.

The options

What each program is

Each described from the program’s own published material.

A teacher faces two seated participants. A VR training scenario for justice and community services. — A trainer faces a small seated class.

CPI certification

CPI uses a train-the-trainer model: CPI instructors train selected staff to become the organisation’s Certified Instructors, who then run ongoing training with CPI courses and materials. Certified Instructors renew every two years.

A corrections officer pauses in the corridor. A VR training scenario for justice and community services. — A corrections officer in the corridor.

CPI Prevention First

Prevention First is a thirty-minute, on-demand online course in four lessons for everyone working in health care. CPI describes it as foundational de-escalation training, separate from full certification.

A plumbing instructor briefs two trainees outside. A VR training scenario for education. — An instructor briefs two trainees on site.

The Mandt System

The Relational, Conceptual and Technical course runs over four days in person for new instructors, with two hours of eLearning afterwards. Instructors recertify every two years and students every year.

A facilitator leads a conversation around the table. A VR training scenario for justice and community services. — A facilitator and two people at a table.

Programs on a government list

North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services publishes approved curricula for de-escalation strategies. It includes CPI, The Mandt System, MOAB, Satori, Safe Crisis Management, Therapeutic Crisis Intervention, EBPI and Mindset among many others, a useful starting list because a government keeps it.

A customer stands across a plain service counter. A first person VR training scenario for immersive training and roleplay, seen through the headset. — A customer at the counter, seen in headset.

VR and AI rehearsal

Staff practise the conversation itself with a simulated person who responds to what they say, in a VR de-escalation scenario or with an AI roleplay partner in a browser. A debrief follows, and the next attempt can run on the next shift.

The requirement

Start from what your rule asks for

Some rules name practice and a debrief. That shapes the delivery a provider needs, whatever the brand.

A simulated bright paediatric treatment room, coloured shapes on the wall. An allied-health clinician in the headset crouches to a seven year old girl's height, her mother beside her. — A clinician crouches to a child’s height.

United States

California’s health care workplace violence standard includes an opportunity to practise with the colleagues staff work with, and a meeting to debrief it. Nevada law asks medical facilities for the same. See the state-by-state US training rules and the Joint Commission workplace violence requirements.

A parent and clinician conversation, one of the recreated Mater settings. — A parent and clinician, in a recreated Mater setting.

Australia and the United Kingdom

Australian hospitals work to NSQHS Standards that ask for de-escalation strategies, alongside occupational violence duties in each state. NHS organisations work to NHS England’s violence prevention and reduction standard.

Using them together

Certification and rehearsal do different jobs

Physical skills are taught hands on by certified instructors. The conversation before them can be rehearsed every week, on any shift.

Two participants rehearse a safety walkthrough. A VR training scenario for virtual reality training and simulation. — A trainee talks a colleague through it.

Where each one fits

Keep the certified program for physical intervention and accreditation. Add rehearsal for the frequency your rules describe, so the verbal skill gets practice between classes.