Nicole Ford (formerly Nicole Janey) is a Management & Resilience Instructor and Consultant. She is a retired 9-1-1 Supervisor with 15 years of service. She is a champion for dispatcher wellness and peer support, and she brings that passion to her training and consulting to help first-responders.

 

During Nicole's 15 years of service as a telecommunicator, she worked everything from small departments with combined responsibilities, to metro agencies with very defined and specific roles. All of this has provided her with a fundamental knowledge of the complexities that 9-1-1 PSAP’s face on an operational and logistical level. In 2019, she won a state scholarship and completed the Communication Center Management Course through Fitch & Associates and the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED). Armed with this knowledge and experience, she stepped into the role of Training and Administrative Supervisor at a 9-1-1 PSAP, while simultaneously acting as second in command for an Emergency Management Department. Her role focused on re-organization and creating a structured training program for the department, as well as acting as the department liaison for 9-1-1, grants and budgeting needs.

 

In addition to the physical challenges of PSAP management, Nicole has a heart for what truly makes 9-1-1 the incredible profession it is: the frontline personnel who answer the calls and radio traffic. In addition to the everyday traffic that the 9-1-1 PSAP handled, Nicole worked notable events such as the Boston Marathon Bombing and incidents that required tactical dispatching skills. In 2015-16, she won several recognition awards for her role managing an officer-involved shooting. She has been interviewed for PTSD911, a documentary film exploring the struggle of first-responders battling the demons of PTSD, produced by Emmy award winner, Conrad Weaver. The documentary focuses on the challenges that first responders face of battling mental health while continuing to be on the job.

 

Nicole has been continually active in other venues within the first-responder world. She functioned as Point of Contact, and served as a peer, with the Greater Boston Law Enforcement CISM team. She has presented for the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) at both the national conference and the Critical Issues Forum, as well as Dare to Be Great 2 conference, and at the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation’s (ICISF) international conference. She is on the Wellness Committee for NENA. She sat on the Peer Support working group, as well as co-chaired the 9-1-1 & Obesity sub-group for the Acute Stress working group.

 

Prior to her career in 9-1-1, Nicole graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work. She worked at a confidential domestic violence shelter, as well as a trainer for the state child abuse hotline. She represented the hotline in focus groups who were tasked with revamping the state’s child welfare database. She also took specialized training in Pediatric/Adult Sexual Assault Examinations and Interviewing techniques. Nicole used her social work background to de-stress while dispatching and volunteered for several years on a farm that utilized equine and hippotherapy in individual and group settings.