24 PSO actor Domore LEGENDARY DURABILITY MEETS HIGH-END STYLE. TO LEARN OUR WHOLE STORY VISIT DomoreSeating.com Trainers must not face the screen and Instruct with their backs to the audience. Remain observant to read students through posture, expression, lack of participation and so on. Without making them feel bad or shameful, the trainer must bring the male rtal to the level of the student and build their knowledge, skills and confidence. Be diligent throughout the training. making eye contact, reading body lan guage, asking questions and Involving all students. Give them a sense of working in a team by doing things together and support Ing each other. Make them understand that there are going to be mistakes and show them how to deal with them without panic or alarm. Give them the tools and means to recover when things don't go perfectly, for example, when transferring an admin call and accidentally hanging up on someone. SUPPORT IS CRITICAL DURING THE 'GO LIVE' PERIOD The experience of changing over to a new call taking system can be stressful. During the 'go live period Itself, and in the hours that follow, have someone there that the call takers can reach out to at any time. This will provide a huge sense of security. It is invaluable to have the vendor's system experts on-hand as well as training support for a complete cycle of shifts. PLAN REFRESHER RESOURCES Plan beyond the initial training session and think about what resources you can put in place for ongoing training. Have a plan for training new hires and for meeting the needs of part-time or backup staff. If there are a few weeks between the time a new system is installed and when its cutover, may be useful to have a workstation open for call takers to come in on their own time and practice. Large PSAPs often have an adjoining training facility where its possible to book an hour at a training console. Further down the road, system upgrades may be an opportunity for refresher train Ing in addition to covering new features or functions. Training bulletins with screenshots or short training videos of new features are beneficial. These make sense when changes or new features are straightforward and there Is not enough new material to justify an actual training class. If you have a large number of call takers, you may decide to hold open classes on partic ular tasks. Another option is to offer your call lakers one-on-one time with a trainer, or hold lunch and learn sessions on particular topics. Don't forget the trainers themselves they should also receive refresher training once a year or as needed when system upgrades occur. REMEDIAL ACTIONS Routinely survey your PSAPs and call lakers about any struggles or problems they may experience. More times than not, the Issue turns out to be operator error. When I discover a recurring error, I send out sag- gestions to PSAPs and their staffs to remind them to use the eastest method available to perform the required task. In one instance, after Investigating call taker complaints of being dropped when establishing a conference call, the error turned out to be selecting the contact and clicking the quick transfer button instead of selecting the contact and clicking the conference button. As a trainer, you only find out about such issues if you remain in good communica tion with your call takers, or at a minimum ensure they have your contact info and an open-door Invitation. YOU ARE NOT ALONE The manufacturer or sales agent of your new system is often an authoritative source of training materials and likely have turnkey training services either at their training facility or on location at your PSAP. Your network of peers, and associa tion membership groups, are additional resources that may offer valuable advice or even the opportunity to review your training plans and materials. Finally, the students themselves are an excellent source for con Unuous Improvement on all aspects of your training, so be sure to elicit their feedback at the end of the course. Devin Denson is the 9-1-1 Operations Coordinator Emergency Communication, Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) in Austin, Tex. She has devel oped training courses from the ground up, and has been responsible for coordinating and instructing the emergency communica tions training program for more than 700 telecommunicators in the CAPCOG region. CDE #41535 ASSISTING SUICIDAL CALLERS EMERGENCY PHONE AND CRISIS COUNSELING San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge has the second-highest rate of suicidal jumps in the world. By Tasha L. Todd very day on our 9-1-1 journey is different. Times are changing constantly. The topics of our training classes and sessions are in constant flux to meet our changing needs. One training subject that has evolved over the years is the han dling of suicidal callers. In today's world, discussion about the topic of mental illness has become more open than at any other time. PSO | September/October 2016 26 PSOorg Celebrities, politicians and civic leaders have given mental illness a voice where long there has been silence. Because of this, it has changed how we as telecommu nicators have trained for these 9-1-1 calls. You would be hard pressed to attend any public safety conference at which there is not at least one session offered on suicidal callers. This training makes us better able to handle those situations when they occur There are two Instances during my 19 years in 9-1-1 in which my training and my ability to handle a suicidal caller were tested. The first came early in my career. I was young, eager and had the world by the tail. I studied hard and fast, and I quickly moved into the rank of Communications Training Officer (CTO). It was a quiet (yes, I said ) Wednesday morning. We had all just finished breakfast and were walling for the day to get started. As a CTO, I always preached to my trainees that you treat every ring like it's going to be your most crucial call. On this day, I didn't take my own advice and was blindsided by what I heard. There was a strong male voice on the other end of the line. He was direct and matter of fact, "I'm going to kill myself. I need you to get people here before my family gets home or someone calls them." I'm not sure how many seconds passed before I spoke, and I'm sure when I started to speak I was stammering for the right words to say. In all of our early training how many times do we hear, "If they are calling to tell you they are going to commit suicide, then you have a good chance of keeping them on the line until help arrives." My caller was calling to tell me, but he wasn't going to stay on the line. He never changed his verbiage. He never changed his tone. He never wavered. His only concern was that we find him before his family did. The only time I was able to distract him from this talk was to ask him how we could find him if he wouldn't tell me where he was living. He was calling from a cell phone, before Phase II was Implemented, so I had no location. This is the only question that caused him pause. Unfortunately, he had a quick remedy. He walked outside in his yard, I assume to address my concern that we wouldn't be able to find him. In my mind, I can still hear the gunshot and the line going dead. My very first thought was, "He told me he was going to kill himself. That means.he really just wanted someone to listen. He wasn't supposed to do that!" That is the first time I realized that, although our training is crucial, every call is different. Every call has a different outcome. No call will end exactly the same, no matter our training. My next experience occurred three years later. At the agency where I worked, we normally had five telecommunicators working. But, three individuals were running three radio channels that day. I was running channel one that afternoon, which monitored traffic units and specialized units. Thankfully, they had been quiet that afternoon, so I was able to help on phones. When I answered the call, every hair on my neck stood up. Completely the opposite of the strong male caller from three years before, this voice was small, meek and very scared. It was a female caller saying that she had found some old ammunition in her home. She asked for a deputy to come and retrieve II. She told me she had two small girls that were at school and she wanted it to be gone before they returned home. I can't tell you why I immediately knew something was wrong, but at that exact moment, I did. I asked her several questions about the ammunition-where she found it and what kind of ammunition it was while getting my partner on channel two to get a unit on the way. My partner looked at me questioningly, and all I could say was that I wasn't sure but that something was wrong. As I continued to ask questions, she started to become agitated. She became more and more persistent that I get a deputy there before her girls came home. Reluctantly, I asked the question I knew I needed to ask. I hoped for a different outcome than the call three years before. "Ma'am," I said, "do you want to hurt yourself?" All I heard on the phone was low and heartbreaking sobs. My suspicions were confirmed. Thankfully, this call had a better ending. The deputies arrived quickly. When they got to the home, they found she had enclosed her closet with plastic. A handgun was lying on the floor. There was a note on the door that said, "Please don't let my girls come in, police only." There are not many days that go by that I don't think about that young mother. I wonder if her life changed for the better. I wonder if she received the help she needed. To say these two specific calls didn't change or affect me as a telecommunicator and a person would be a lie. I was forever changed by both of these calls-even though each had very different endings. This job makes us many things. Unfortunately, callous can be one of them. For so long mental illness was stigmatized, and no one wanted to talk about or give a face to it. In the early part of my career, that stigma was prevalent. But, over time my personal experience taught me three things. First, even the strongest voice can have a heartbreaking message. When that strong and steady male voice came across that 9-1-1 trunk, never did I imagine the message he would be giving me. It took a few seconds to register what he was saying. The message that he was delivering, no matter how devastating, never wavered. Second, even when the training statistics show one thing, situations don't always turn out the way they are "supposed to. We have all been in training that tells us if a person is calling, it is a good sign, and we still have the opportunity to intervene. However, knowing that is NOT a reason to think they will not go through with their attempt. Keeping them talking, asking questions and keeping them calm are all parts of the training we must keep in mind. The most important thing on the minds of both callers was that their family members not be able to find them before we did. I can't say with any certainty that either of them would have called had it not been for that concern and fear. Neither one was calling to discuss the "why" of their actions; they were calling simply out of concern for their loved ones. Last, there is no substitute for "gut instinct." As the old saying goes, "When in doubt, send them out." In those moments of a call when your hairs stand up on the back of your neck, listen to your instincts. Rely on what you've been taught. Listen for those statements that send up red flags-statements like, "I don't see a way out," or "No one will miss me." Keep going to your training sessions. Every time someone shares their story, it will be different from your own or the ones I've shared here. Every scenario is one we can all learn from. And, we'll become better at our jobs because of it. If you are a CTO, please take to heart the lessons that I learned in these events. I forgot for a moment to practice what I preached. I forgot to pick up the phone with the mindset, "This could be it." The world that we dispatch in today is far different from the one many of us started in. The next generations of telecommunicators have to learn difficult lessons and perform to today's tough standards. Hopefully, you have leadership in place that understands the importance of training. Take advantage of every opportunity given to you. It doesn't matter how many times you've heard about suicidal callers and the questions to ask in the face of those calls-you will stutter step, you will have to get your composure and your heart will skip. But knowledge is power. Organizations that support mental health initiatives are abundant. Find one in your community that is willing to come in and train for free. All you have to do is ask. A dear friend recently used this quote by Henry Ford, "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success." Let's work together. Tasha L. Todd, RPL, ENP, is an E9-1-1 Coordinator for Pickens County in South Carolina. She started her 9-1-1 career in 1996 and has since served as a telecom- municator, CTO, CAD Administrator, and E9-1-1 Technical Specialist. She currently is president of South Carolina APCO. CRISIS COUNSELING THERE IS HOPE MAKE THE CALL THE CONSEQUENCES OF JUMPING FROM THIS BRIDGE ARE FATAL AND TRAGIC. PSC September/October 2015 27 27