Peer Support: Helping Dispatchers Help Themselves
Support for Peer Support
CAL-EDA is dedicated to advocating for dispatchers and believes that strong peer support teams significantly increase dispatchers’ quality of life. Whether you are a member of an active peer support team or are interested in starting a team of your own, CAL-EDA will be there to support you. If you are aware of any upcoming training for peer supporters or want more information on peer support, please email mayers@cal-eda.org
Peer Support Tip of the Month: The following are a couple of tips for coping with work-related stress and not taking it home with you! After a stressful day at work, a lot of thoughts might be bouncing around your head. If you don’t want to go home and have that affect your relationship with your loved ones, finding a way to process your thoughts and feelings before you arrive home, can be helpful. Take a Time-Out- One individual we spoke with shared her method for reducing stress. She takes a detour to the beach and spends 20-30 minutes taking a walk in the sand and giving herself time to reflect on the day. This way she doesn’t arrive home still needing personal space and shutting her family out. She takes the time for herself before getting home so that she can arrive home ready to spend time with family. Granted, not everyone has a beach in their community but a park, farm, or even a place of worship, would work. It should be someplace that offers your brain a chance to slow down. Draw a Line- If you have a commute to and from work, this tip might work for you. Figure out a place that is an easily recognizable mid-point between work and home. Allow yourself the first part of your trip to think about and process items from work. When you hit the mid-point, shift gears and start thinking about home instead. |
Share Your Success: How does your peer support team make sure that members of the team stay mentally healthy? Share your team’s brilliant ideas on our Facebook page! |
What is peer support?
Peer support is a formalized way of “being there” for your coworkers. It’s non-professional support from trained individuals who have a strong interest in keeping their coworkers happy and mentally healthy. Who better to know what a dispatcher is going through, than a dispatcher? Peer support can run the range from being there for a coworker during a divorce to assisting with a critical incident stress debrief. Many peer support teams find ways to include dispatchers’ families because families can be affected by the stress we bring home.
This article that gets right to the problem of dispatch stress:
Stress and the 911 Dispatcher
Resources:
• The Bay Area Critical Incident Stress Management Team
Articles and training.
• The California Peer Support Association
Has links to other agencies peer support policies and procedur es.
•International Critical Incident Stress Foundation
• The Center for Living with Dying
An excellent resource for dealing with grief
Also note, if your agency is CALEA accredited, the new standards adopted in 2007 address the need for peer support and ongoing stress management.