OUR FOUR PILLARS OF TRAINING
Leadership
Wellness
Critical Incidents
Technology (NG911)
Our courses are designed through specific pillars which identify 4 major areas affecting all Communications Centers in the US.
We have successfully partnered with training managers associations and legendary police departments to create customized training content for their region and/or agency. We are successful because we represent all facets of the industry; sworn and civilian, front-line and executive, but above all we are innovators and fearless in our approach for training The Next Generation of 911 professionals.
Contact us today for a personalized training plan.
CRITICAL INCIDENTS
It's not a matter of if a critical incident will occur in your jurisdiction it is a matter of when.
Intuitively, we know this but we do not train for it and all of the excuses are legitimate; primarily, staffing levels. Critical incidents don't care if you're short staffed but you should care that your dispatch staff is prepared for an Active Shooter Response or other Critical Incident. Their skill set aids in positive field outcomes. Our course speaks to a wide range of incident types to include natural disasters, planned protests, civil unrest, and wildfires.
We offer each course independent of the other however many agencies prefer to host 3-day workshops in their region to have a more interactive and meaningful experience.
If time away from the floor is an issue, one day courses are suitable as all of our instructors have direct experience, whether in the field or behind the console, in major internationally recognized active shooter, school based or critical incidents.
Our direct experience as first responders (dispatch and field operations) in major critical incidents; Christopher Dorner manhunt and Inland Regional Center Terrorist attack, translate into an unforgettable classroom experience because we are on-the-job, too.
If costs are a barrier to training consider Active Shooter Situations which is eligible for State 9-1-1 Office reimbursement via SETNA ATA training funds. The reimbursement covers tuition, travel, lodging and backfill. Contact us if you have any questions about the reimbursement process.
Due to the sensitivity of our Active Shooter and Critical Incident courses only currently employed public safety personnel may attend as students.
LEADERSHIP
Our leadership courses are taught by real-world police and communications leaders who are in the trenches with you not by pundits who have never done the grind of a leader in 9-1-1.
Our instructors demonstrate leadership and management skills every day on the job. We believe that regardless of rank every dispatcher has the potential to lead from their position. Our courses provide leadership skills training suitable for line staff, trainers, middle managers and executives.
It is a painful fact that most agencies do not have the resources to invest in civilian leadership. The resource may be time, money, or more often than not because of staffing. I know, because I live in your world and respecting the challenges that face us our courses are the meat and potatoes with real world examples. To better budget time and training dollars we teach a 3-day Leadership Workshop. This is the Leadership & Accountability 24-hour course in California. For a refresher, we offer an 8-hour Leadership & Accountability course as well.
We exercise adult learning concepts and do not rely on droning from the lectern and while lecturing has its place it is not our main instructing style.
We've provided agency specific training for Communications Training Officers, Supervisors, and Team Building Workshops that may be tailored to meet your agency specific needs.
Because we are current 9-1-1 practitioners and represent various levels of leadership (Supervisors, Managers, Directors, Command Staff) we are able to provide elevated training that provides real world solutions not just theories in a book.
When you're ready to get real about leadership click on the link below and enroll.
WELLNESS
We offer three levels of wellness courses appropriate for public safety dispatcher stress management.
Dispatcher Wellness course is ideal for newer dispatchers and/or those on the front-line.
Trauma Exposure and Management is ideal for more experienced dispatchers whether on the front-line, training officers, leads, or supervisors and managers.
Stress Management for Supervisors and Managers is designed for those in management positions as the stress experienced is real but different that those with only front-line responsibilities.
All of our courses combine years of real-world experience, academic acumen, research and practical tangible solutions to assist you in having more successful outcomes.
Kim and Ryan are our primary wellness instructors and have independently provided training for the California Highway Patrol Peer Support group, Crisis Intervention Team training.
We also offer combined courses with sworn and dispatch personnel to go through the discovery process of wellness just as they work together on a daily basis.
Professional Standards for Dispatchers: Raising the Bar
Anthony Alvo & Ryan Dedmon, Contributors
Public-safety dispatchers are highly trained professionals who handle a wide variety of the most exigent of circumstances using complex telecommunication systems. They receive hundreds of hours of instructional training in a classroom and technical training on the job. And yet, too many times do they feel like they are not actively playing roles to accomplish their department’s mission.
Ironically, even one of the very definitions of the word “dispatch” is to kill.
The problem in emergency communication centers is that dispatchers are killing one another psychologically and emotionally because they fail to set professional standards that reflect the work they do.
Why do dispatchers figuratively kill each other?
Why are some communication centers such toxic working environments?
Sometimes, it’s not even intentional. Some centers have old policies in place that actually inhibit the role of dispatchers instead of empowering them. Some communications centers have a “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” philosophy which creates tension. And when dispatchers question policies or procedures, a typical response is, “Because this is how we’ve always done it”. Dispatchers need to re-consider their roles and goals within their agency that accurately reflects everything that they really do.
Private sector businesses in the corporate world create mission statements. These statements briefly describe the business’ goals and the values they believe will help them achieve success. Public-safety agencies also have them. Unfortunately, mission statements for public-safety agencies are often too broad and unintentionally leave professional staff wondering how their roles in the communications center play out in the bigger picture. Dispatchers could very well create their own mission statements. These statements would be used to articulate goals to be achieved and the values they determine to be important within their center, which would of course, align with the encompassing department’s mission statement.
A mission statement specifically created for dispatchers can make them feel more valued because they are working towards personalized goals that contribute to the overall success of their mission. They may also have more pride in their work because they wouldn’t feel like they were just dispatchers. They would be creatively working to proactively raise the bar to accomplish their mission. They would feel empowered to change their toxic working environments and workplace culture. Subsequently, empowered dispatchers would have an elevated level of satisfaction in their work, thus raising their professional standards in their centers to new heights where the negativity does not kill them.
Interested in learning more? Register for our next Professional Standards presentation.
Anthony Alvo, Lead Instructor Professional Standards