CESSA Training and Education Subcommittee - September 26, 2023, 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Meeting Minutes - Approved by Members 10/10/2023
AGENDA
- Welcome & Call to Order
- Roll Call
- Approval of Minutes
- Meeting Logistics/OMA
- New Business
- 911 Telecommunicators Training Curriculum
- Wrap-Up / Next Meeting
- Public Comments
- Adjournment
The meeting was called to order by Cindy Barbera-Brelle at 10:32 a.m.
Roll Call:
Present: Michelle Churchey-Mims (Designee for Blanca Campos), Cindy Barbera-Brelle, Lee Ann Reinert (Designee for David Albert), Greg Atteberry, Pooja Nagpal, Candace Coleman
Absent: Emily Miller
Motion to approve minutes from 9/12/23 by Greg Atteberry and seconded by Michelle Churchey Mims. The members who voted to approve the minutes are Michelle Churchey-Mims, Cindy Barbera-Brelle, Greg Atteberry, and Pooja Nagpal. Abstain: Lee Ann Reinert.
Review of 911 Telecommunicators Training Curriculum
- General assembly passed legislation for telecommunicators and telecommunicator supervisors to take or pass new training standards
- Cindy has been working with telecommunicators to develop baseline modules training (about 16 so far)
- Curriculum:
- Legal Concepts - CESSA, Emergency Telephone Systems Act, Sexual Assault
- CESSA / 988 - 988 and Suicide Lifeline Crisis Centers
- CESSA / 988 Additional Trauma Areas - Definitions and Signs of Vicarious Trauma, Causes of Vicarious Trauma, and Vicarious Trauma vs PTSD
- CESSA / 988 Emergency Services Behavioral and Mental Health Role and Responsibility - Role & Responsibility 911, Fire, EMS, and Law Enforcement (Includes Responder Initiated Calls)
- Call Processing - Active Listening, Emotional Control, Diversity / Demographics, Impaired Callers, and English Interpretation Services
- Call Processing Special Populations - TDD / TTY - Deaf and Hearing Impaired, Domestic Violence, Suicidal Callers, Children Callers, Elderly Callers, Speech Impaired, Diverse Callers (Universe), Autism, Multiple Discipline Response (Public Safety / MCRT / 988)
- Mental Health and Stress Management - Definitions, Strategies for Dealing with Stress, and Management of Critical Incident Stress
- Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) - Suggested Training - ILETSB, *MTU's**, Other
- Greg Atteberry: Will this also be the "CESSA" training for the telecommunicators?
- Cindy: Yes. The idea is to work with the Crisis Hub on adding more content, maybe videos. The objective is a one-stop shop.
- Greg: This is for new telecommunicators. The old telecommunicators don't have to take this. How will they learn the CESSA part if they don't take this training?
- Cindy: There are a few modules that telecommunicators would have to take regardless of tenure. At a minimum, they will have to take 2 or 3 of them; they will not get a pass on that part of the training.
- Candace Coleman: Are any parts of this training going to include some updated language and ideas for people with disabilities? One of the dilemmas I feel is the language barrier in describing people of different needs. What the disability community is today and what we have available. Is there room in the training to provide that?
- Cindy: Yes, that's a good idea. Dr. Solomon and I will go as we develop them and include this.
- Pooja Nagpal: I noticed most trainings are virtual or self-paced. I didn't notice many in person. Is this how it has always been, or is there a reason?
- Cindy: It's difficult to do. We don't do a lot of classroom learning because of the logistics of backfilling and moving telecommunicators from place to place. We could do WebEx, record it, and put it in the learning management system.
- Pooja: Are there live practice sessions with these telecommunicators?
- Cindy: What's included in the module is on-the-job training. It covers what should be covered by the PSAP itself. Before you release someone to take calls alone, supervisors observe and train at the local PSAP itself.
- Lee Ann Reinert: The CESSA Act has very specific language about involving people with lived expertise. It's silent on that inclusion for the 9-1-1 training. I'm wondering if there's a role for individuals with lived expertise in any of the training content and if that's something we need to consider.
- Candace: One of the reasons we thought about that a lot with this legislation is that people have been looking at the disability community from a medical perspective, not as a person as a whole. Our society has completely shifted since initially mapping out 9-1-1. I want to make sure we include people with lived experience.
- Lorrie Jones: I think those are points well taken. I'm thinking from the perspective of the HUB, we will do that. As we work with Cindy, we will absolutely keep these issues top of mind as we move forward.
- Cindy: We want to record the training so those who cannot attend can view them. We want to ensure we can archive and make the presentation available to others. Or we incorporate it in the appropriate module.
- In Chat: Amanda Lake - Apologies if I missed this, but is training related to responding to individuals with substance use or overdose response included in this proposed training?
- Cindy: We have not yet, but we will look into it.
- Next steps: Dr. Solomon and I will make some improvements based on the excellent suggestions today. We will bring this back at our next meeting. If everyone is comfortable with the direction, we will vote on that at the October 10th meeting and develop more trainings.
Next meetings:
October 10, 10:30 a.m. - 12:00
October 25, 10:30 - 12:00
Public Comment
- Gabriella: I'm wondering which part of the training curriculum is EDI expressed-specifically LGBTQ or neurodivergent. We did have discussions and questions from the panel on callers with disabilities.
- Cindy: A section in the call processing module will address any possible person contacting a PSAP. We will ensure it is covered and gets greater visibility on the document.
Adjournment
Cindy Barbera-Brelle adjourned the meeting at 11:19 a.m. No opposition.
