NOTE: FOR DISCOUNTS ON PURCHASES OF 25 OR MORE, Please go to our website: www.911Training.net. Thank you! Jim MarshallFROM THE PREFACE BY TRACEY LAORENZA...Let me start off first with a couple questions to my fellow dispatchers. Have you ever looked at your console and said, "That's it, I'm done?" Or turned to your partner and noticed they were struggling and you didn't know what to do or say to help them? You're not alone. And that's one of the driving forces behind this book. To let all dispatchers and call-takers know you're not alone. There is help-in many forms. As you journey through these pages, you will meet several people who have been touched by the 9-1-1 dispatch profession. Some of these people are, or have been, dispatchers themselves. Some are therapists, scientists, and even medical doctors. There are directors, and those who have served in the military. We are your authors. Our chapters will cover many facets of a world that deals with trauma on a daily basis. We have pooled our knowledge, our experiences, and our genuine concern for the health and wellbeing for all 9-1-1 Professionals to create this guide to help you survive and thrive in the 9-1-1 world. As you walk through these pages, our hope is for you to become physically, mentally and emotionally healthier than when you turned the first page. We hope for a more resilient you. But, this book is not just for dispatchers!To the rest of our readers, I would like to welcome you to the unknown. Each moment of a dispatcher's shift is just that: unknown. With each ring of the telephone there could be a child screaming for help; a mother who has lost her child; an elderly male who woke to find his wife has passed away in her sleep; an irate driver stuck in a traffic jam because a mile ahead someone has been killed in an accident the driver can't see; or it could quite simply be a lonely, elderly woman calling for the time, because she has no one else to call. Let's not forget the calls about the weather, road conditions, queries about when the electricity will come back on, the raccoons out in the daylight, and a myriad of other calls that are answered daily. You are about to experience some of the most heart-wrenching experiences dispatchers are required to handle. You will witness their steps from the depths of darkness into the bright light of resilience as they become stronger, healthier, Extraordinary Care Givers. You will walk alongside therapists who have fought to bring to light the trauma suffered by dispatchers. Hopefully you will begin to wonder compassionately about the dispatch profession. And I assure you, it is a profession. Dispatchers are a proud, yet humble group. But we are suffering. We have always been the nameless, faceless voice on the other side of the receiver, answering your calls and cries for help. Now it is your chance to help us.
ABOUT THE EDITORS... James Marshall, MA, LLP, is a psychotherapist and Director of the 911 Training Institute. He now educates telecommunicators in personal resilience and 9-1-1 call mastery, and advocates in the 9-1-1 industry to support these causes. "Jim" has been a licensed clinician for over thirty years and was the founding chair of the 9-1-1 Wellness Foundation. He co-chaired the workgroup that authored the industry's first Standard on Acute/Traumatic and Chronic Stress Management, and co-authored Reaching the Unseen First Responder With EMDR, a chapter in a textbook for clinicians, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Scripted Protocols and Summary Sheets: Treating trauma, anxiety and medical related conditions (Springer, 2015). Jim earned his Masters of Arts in clinical psychology from Wheaton College (IL). Tracey Laorenza, BS, is currently the communications coordinator of a public safety department at a college in Massachusetts. She is the editor for South of Heaven Press, and co-editor of The Resilient 9-1-1 Professional. For eighteen years, Tracey was a 9-1-1 police and fire dispatcher; sixteen of which she served as a dispatch shift leader for a suburban police department in Michigan. She was also an instructor within the 9-1-1 Dispatch Academy at Oakland Community College (MI), as well as with Macnlow Associates (MI). Tracey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and a Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing.
