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The front line in suicide prevention
9-1-1 in the Classroom, Training | Greg | September 27, 2010 at 8:20 am
Local media recently covered a PowerPhone Suicide Intervention™ training program at Oxford, Massachussets taught by Charles Santoro.
The class was held at Oxford Police Headquarters on September 22, 2010. Students from public safety agencies across the state attended the one-day program, which focuses on the dispatcher’s role in handling suicidal callers.
From the minute dispatchers sit down, Santoro said, they must take potential suicide calls seriously. Dispatchers must always put aside personal problems while they are on duty, he said.
“The public is not concerned about what your day is like,” Santoro said. “The public is concerned about resolving their problem.”
Dispatchers listened to a number of chilling 911 calls during training. They heard examples of dispatchers speaking with callers in the absolute worst way possible. “We do not want to put people on hold,” Santoro warned, or treat them in cold or dispassionate tones of voice.
Read the full story from the Worcester Telegram.
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