Curriculum overview
PsychReady is built around observable competencies, not one-off lectures.
1. Competency-based design
Map role-specific competencies for each staff group — assessment, communication, de-escalation, risk, medication safety, trauma-informed care, and equity. Link each to a personal development plan and refresh at induction, annually, and after incidents.
2. Behavioral Skills Training (BST)
Instruction → modeling → rehearsal → feedback, repeated until staff meet a defined mastery standard on an observed checklist. Your facility sets the threshold.
3. Simulation with structured debrief
Standardized-patient or role-play scenarios covering aggression, suicide risk, capacity, and ED crises, followed by a structured debrief. Interprofessional scenarios bring nursing, psychiatry, social work, and security together. One published quality-improvement project in a psychiatric emergency setting reported fewer restraints and staff injuries after simulation-based training combined with crisis-prevention content. That is one site's result, and other facilities may not see the same.
4. mhGAP-style cascade (“train the trainer”)
The WHO mhGAP Intervention Guide and training manuals use cascade training: master trainers prepare local facilitators, who train frontline staff through role-play, case discussion, and skills assessment. This helps training outlast staff turnover.
5. Clinical supervision as the backbone
Regular, competency-based supervision with direct observation, documented feedback, and post-incident reflection that supports staff wellbeing.
6. Aligned with APA, SAMHSA, and NIMH
Each module maps to public guidance: APA practice guidelines for clinical care, SAMHSA for crisis care, trauma-informed care and substance use, and NIMH for suicide screening and medication basics. Modules list their sources.
Full lessons
Each module is a full lesson: learn, practice, simulate, and measure.
- De-escalation & crisis prevention
- Suicide/self-harm risk & safety planning
- Trauma-informed & equitable care
- TeamSTEPPS-style teamwork in psych ED
- Telepsychiatry skills & limits
- Restraint alternatives & human-rights aligned care
- Physical health deterioration in psychiatric settings
- Clinical supervision competencies
Standards & sources
PsychReady modules are aligned with public guidance from three U.S. organizations. We summarize; we don't replace their documents or your local policy.
- American Psychiatric Association (APA): APA Clinical Practice Guidelines, APA Telepsychiatry resources
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): SAMHSA National Behavioral Health Crisis Care Guidance, SAMHSA Trauma-Informed Approaches, SAMHSA 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, SAMHSA Substance Use Treatment Options
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): NIMH Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) Toolkit, NIMH Suicide Prevention, NIMH Mental Health Medications
PsychReady is independent and not endorsed by APA, SAMHSA, or NIMH.