The success of an Emergency Communications Center depends heavily on its leadership. Directors must navigate complex operations, difficult interpersonal dynamics, personnel needs, organizational expectations, and communication with governing boards and public officials, all while supporting employees working in a high-stress environment.

The cumulative weight of these responsibilities can affect a leader’s well-being, decision-making, relationships, and ability to lead effectively. This course examines the stressors unique to 9-1-1 leadership and provides evidence-based resilience and coherence strategies designed for the realities of leading an ECC.

First responders are trained to remain composed under pressure, respond to the needs of others, and keep moving forward, often without acknowledging the cumulative impact of the work.

This interactive two-day course challenges the traditional “suck-it-up” culture of public safety and replaces it with practical, evidence-informed strategies for recognizing stress, managing distress in the moment, and interrupting unhealthy patterns. Participants will gain a fresh perspective on their professional and personal challenges while developing tools that support a healthier career and a fuller life beyond the job.

First responders are trained to show up for others, but knowing how to support one of their own can be far more complicated.

Whether your agency is exploring peer support for the first time or preparing to build a formal certified program, this interactive course examines the foundational principles, boundaries, and real-world impact of supporting one another...because no one should have to navigate the difficult parts of this work alone.

Public safety agencies are recognizing the need to equip first responders to support one another in ways that protect mental health, job performance, and overall well-being. While shared experience creates connection, effective peer support also requires specialized skills, clear boundaries, and the ability to respond thoughtfully when someone is struggling.

This advanced three-day training and certification process prepares participants to support peers facing emotional, relational, occupational, and personal challenges. Through interactive instruction and practical application, participants will strengthen their ability to assess a peer’s needs, navigate difficult conversations, provide appropriate support, and recognize when additional resources may be needed.

Enrollment is limited to participants who have completed the prerequisite courses: Survive & Thrive and The Power of Peer Support.

First responders are trained to remain composed under pressure, respond to the needs of others, and keep moving forward, often without acknowledging the cumulative impact of the work.

This interactive course challenges the traditional “suck-it-up” culture of public safety and replaces it with practical, evidence-informed strategies for recognizing stress, managing distress in the moment, and interrupting unhealthy patterns. Participants will gain a fresh perspective on their professional and personal challenges while developing tools that support a healthier career and a fuller life beyond the job.

This condensed version of Survive & Thrive: Comprehensive is offered to meet the needs of busy first-responders with limited availability.

EMS professionals are trained to remain composed under pressure, care for others in their most vulnerable moments, and keep moving forward often without acknowledging the cumulative impact of the work.

This interactive course challenges the traditional “suck-it-up” culture of EMS and replaces it with practical, evidence-informed strategies for recognizing stress, managing distress in the moment, and interrupting unhealthy patterns. Participants will gain a fresh perspective on the challenges of EMS both, on and off the truck, while developing practical tools to support a healthier career, stronger relationships, and a fuller life beyond the job.

Delivery of peer support requires retention and continuous improvement of knowledge, skills, and personal insight. This course refreshes and deepens core knowledge required to effectively deliver peer support, provides advanced information related to specific scenarios, and provides the opportunity to practice skills with feedback and support from colleagues and the instructor.

Critical incidents can affect an entire team disrupting connection, increasing stress reactions, and challenging an agency’s ability to recover and move forward.

This two-day course delivers a comprehensive group crisis intervention curriculum tailored to the realities of public safety while meeting ICISF certification requirements. Participants will examine the unique stressors and trauma associated with public-safety careers and develop practical skills for facilitating structured group interventions following critical incidents.

Real-world scenarios and role-play exercises allow participants to apply the course concepts in realistic situations. The official ICISF Student Manual is included.

There has never been a time in the history of public-safety professions in which it is more critically important to build “Mentally Tough, High Morale Teams”. Why? Our agencies and personnel are struggling with unprecedented levels of chronic understaffing amidst increasing, and more complex, demands for service from the public. Poor morale is common among our teams in public-safety who face greater risks of stress-related mental and physical problems. To succeed as a workforce, each team member must do their part in shaping workplace relationships that are positive and respectful.

The work of first-responders is vitally important and often very rewarding. But it can also really take a toll on marriages/partnerships and families. Likewise, they often carry their stress from those relationships back to work. Spend a full day devoted to strengthening personal relationships to help improve family life. Enjoy group discussions and learn about outstanding resources that will help balance work-life with the most important relationships at home. And you can bring your partner (or other adult family member) along at NO ADDITIONAL COST!

Civilian professionals play an essential role in public safety and are exposed to difficult information, disturbing images, critical incidents, and sustained operational pressure often without the same wellness resources provided to sworn personnel. 

This four-hour virtual course validates the realities of civilian public-safety work while providing practical education about stress, post-traumatic stress, and related conditions. Participants will examine their own stress cycles, develop healthier ways to manage occupational pressure, and gain a renewed perspective on protecting their well-being and enjoying life beyond the job.

This class equips leaders with practical tools to navigate stress, burnout, and feelings of isolation in themselves and to better recognize these challenges within their teams. Participants will learn simple, effective strategies to care for their own well-being, and support employees through difficult seasons. The focus is on strengthening resilience and building a psychologically safe, compassionate workplace where leaders and staff feel seen, valued, connected, and never alone. By prioritizing wellness at every level, leaders help ensure everyone is still standing, even when the job feels heavy.

This class helps line-level staff navigate stress, burnout, and feelings of isolation by offering simple, effective strategies for emotional well-being. Participants will learn healthy coping strategies, grounding techniques, and ways to stay connected to themselves and their peers during difficult shifts and difficult seasons. The focus is on strengthening personal resilience, rebuilding hope, and reminding employees they are still standing, even when the work feels heavy, in turn cultivating a workplace where no one feels alone because support is visible and hope is present.

Every word matters when a caller is overwhelmed, resistant, or in crisis. This interactive course combines emotional intelligence, crisis intervention, and practical negotiation strategies to help 9-1-1 professionals de-escalate heightened emotions, navigate conflict, and communicate with greater confidence. Through realistic scenarios, participants will practice remaining calm, building connection, and guiding critical conversations toward safer outcomes.

Beginning a career in public safety is exciting but the transition from training into the realities of the profession can test even the most prepared rookie. The technical skills may help them perform the job, but resilience, self-awareness, communication, and grit will help them sustain it.

This interactive one-day workshop gives new police, fire, EMS, and 9-1-1 professionals practical strategies for managing pressure, maintaining motivation, and building the foundation for a healthy, successful career.

Moving from peer to supervisor can be one of the most challenging transitions in a first responder’s career. The relationships that once felt familiar begin to change, expectations increase, and new supervisors must learn to balance accountability with connection.

Peer to Sup: Essential Supervisor Skills is a two-day interactive course that prepares new and aspiring supervisors for the real-world challenges of leadership. Participants will examine their leadership approach, practice navigating difficult but necessary conversations, and develop strategies for managing conflict, communicating expectations, and building trust.

Mental health and suicide-risk calls require more than a scripted response. This comprehensive three-day course explores the psychological and emotional factors that influence caller behavior while strengthening practical skills in assessment, de-escalation, and intervention. Participants will learn to use the science-based LifeBridges Guiding Flex-Protocol to adapt their approach to the caller’s needs and support safer outcomes.

Mental health crisis calls can be unpredictable, emotionally charged, and difficult to navigate. Callers may be experiencing intense emotions, altered perceptions, confusion, fear, or other behaviors that make traditional communication approaches less effective.

This one-day course gives 9-1-1 professionals a practical, science-based framework for understanding what may be driving a caller's behavior and responding with greater clarity, confidence, and intention. Participants will learn how to recognize behavioral and emotional cues, adapt their communication, and use the EMHD approach to support safer outcomes.

Calls involving suicide risk require more than knowing what questions to ask. They require the ability to recognize risk, build connection, navigate difficult emotional states, and help a caller move toward safety.

Building LifeBridges to Suicide Callers is a one-day course designed specifically for 9-1-1 professionals who manage suicide-related calls. Grounded in current suicidology principles and adapted to the emergency communications environment, the course provides practical strategies for identifying suicide risk, asking direct and meaningful questions, de-escalating emotional distress, and building a connection that can help move a caller toward safety.

Domestic violence calls are complex, emotionally charged, and rarely straightforward.   This course helps 9-1-1 professionals better understand the psychology, behavioral patterns, and trauma responses that can shape how callers communicate during a domestic violence incident. Participants will gain practical, trauma-informed strategies to connect with callers, gather critical information, and help establish a safer scene for everyone involved.

A public-safety agency’s ability to operate through hardship is driven by the shared mental, emotional, physical and spiritual resilience of its employees. But when most people speak of "self-care", they mean eat, sleep, and exercise for "life-balance". That in itself is a challenge for first-responders. They face epidemic levels of PTSD, depression, and obesity, so they need far more than a casual approach to self-care practiced by regular humans. This leadership workshop focuses on the inside of the leader. It's a rare opportunity empowering leaders to invest in themselves for the sake of all. Leaders will leave with greater self-attunement, vision for personal development, and their own Self-Care Plan.

Public-safety agencies invest in systematic analysis of planning and preparing for optimal response to critical incidents. But agencies do not reckon with the psychological risks their organizations face as fall-out from emergency response. Comprehensive Stress Resilience Plans (CSRP) ensure the availabilty and delivery of a variety of resources to support first-responders in their recovery from chronic exposure to traumatic incidents. In this course, leaders will create their own Executive Workbook, guiding their agency's development of its CSRP. The work begins by discovering the key agency resources known to uphold employee resilience. Leaders will identify their agency's status in delivering each of those resources, the obstacles in the way, set priorities, and plan action steps to build a CSRP through roundtable discussion with colleagues.

This course experience is based on extensive research identifying key elements of leadership, character, and integrity that are shown to drive organizational success. Leaders will gain a clear understanding of each character element. Then, through roundtable discussion of case studies, they will discover how these are brought to bear on relationships with personnel and their performance.

This training provides veteran first-responders with a comprehensive framework for understanding the long-term psychological impact of service, navigating the emotional code of the profession, and preparing for a healthy transition into retirement. Participants explore trauma exposure, emotional intelligence, burnout, communication patterns, and evidence-based strategies for resilience and post-career wellbeing.