Psychological Services for Communications Dispatcher
I use EMDR to help dispatchers mute or delete the scream of a mother who has lost her child. That sound doesn’t have to play in your head on your days off.
Work used to be exciting. It was so much fun to know things before the press did, then came social media. You have ‘Crystal Ball’ moments at work, but when you get home even 20 questions isn't enough to find out what is going on with your own family. What happened?
The break room is filled with pastries and pizza. The left-over catering from every meeting winds up just feet away from your console. Your best friends retired. Then came mandatory overtime and a urinary tract infection.
Which came first, the neck and wrist pain or the missing/abducted child call?
That doesn’t matter as much as you think. Stress makes physical pain worse and physical pain limits our ability to handle stress. Together in therapy we can break this cycle. You can stop thinking something is seriously wrong with you and start focusing on the things you can control
The sound of a mother’s scream when her baby is not breathing is 2,000 years old. We are hard wired to react to that sound. If this tape is stuck on replay in your mind, I offer a special type of therapy that can change that. The tape doesn’t have to play anymore, or at least not on maximum volume during your off time! I help dispatchers find the mute button for the memory
If you haven’t tried therapy before, feel free to let me know that when you call. If you had a good therapist in the past, you don’t have to start all over with someone new. You are where you are, and we can start there with 1-3 visits.
I didn’t forget about you. I have done sit-alongs with dispatchers and I want to hear from you.
If you call my landline 510-797-4911 you can decide by the sound of my voice if we are a good fit.
Helpful Videos
With Help Life Gets Better
First Responder Support Network
Reducing the Stigma of Psychiatric Medications
Helpful Books
Bloody Sunday: Surviving PTSD with EMDR
By T. Cooper Smith
Publisher (self), 130 pages, Copyright 2009
Cop Shock: Surviving Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Second Edition)
By Allen R Kates
Publisher Holbrook Street Press, 472 pages, Copyright 2008
The Gift of Fear, and other Survival Signals that protect us from Violence
By Gavin De Becker
Publisher Dell, 384 pages, Copyright 2021
The PTSD Workbook: Simple, Effective Techniques for Overcoming Traumatic Stress Symptoms
By Mary Beth Williams, PhD, LCSW, CTS., and Soili Poijula, PhD
Publisher New Harbinger Publications Inc., 237 pages, Copyright 2002
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
By Matthew Walker, PhD
Publisher Scribner, 360 pages, Copyright 2017
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, Third Edition
By Robert Sapolsky
Publisher Holt Paperbacks, 560 pages, Copyright 2004
Helpful Links
- International Academies of Emergency Dispatch
- National Emergency Number Association
- West Coast Post-Trauma Retreat
- First Responder Support Groups
- San Mateo County CISM Team
- A Little Laughter Goes a Long Way!
- How to find the right mental health trauma specialist