The Dispatcher and The Victim
The Dispatcher and The Victim
By Millie Miller
Longmont Emergency Communications
Victims of all types of crimes are adversely affected by that event. The more personal the type of crime, the more the adverse impact. It doesn't matter how strong either psychologically or physically an individual is, the adverse impact is still there. The adverse effects include:
Secondary Injuries:
The first link with the Public Safety community for the victim is often the dispatcher or PST. These people have an impact on the victims via their handling of the contact. Victims need to share what happened and they need to have their feelings validated. Many times dispatchers do not have the time to actively do these but can convey empathy by their tone of voice and by the questions asked.
Victims repeatedly have talked about who was rude and/or nasty to them and who helped them and conveyed a feeling of caring. They indicate how this initial contact set the stage for the continuing contact with Public Safety workers. Even this small amount of early intervention can lessen the adverse impact of the event on the victim. Stress related disorders account for 80% to 90% of all visits to health care professionals and accounts for 14% of all "occupational disease" workers compensation claims. The psychological state of the emergency response personnel can have direct effect on the mental health and physical health of survivors of trauma. Early intervention reduces permanent trauma effect so effectively that when it is provided after six months' after the event the average cost of treatment increases ten fold.
We need to remind ourselves that each incident is traumatic to the victim no matter how routine it is to us. Your reaction in tone of voice and verbal support can make a big difference to them. Our caring response to a victim of a crime can maintain or set up the initial trust relationship with emergency service providers for the victim. Remember, each caller deserves the same level of caring, they are all experiencing trauma of some type. Reacting to callers in a caring manner adds to your feeling of self worth and of a job well done. Give callers what information you can and for which you have the time. Information can diffuse feelings of frustration and anger, but remember their frustration and anger is not directed at you personally. Many times it is easier and faster to take the time to explain why we are asking the questions than to deal with the anger and frustration of the caller. Given the time, tell the caller what they can expect after their contact with you is completed.
Self Care
We are impacted by emergency services work and the changes in us as a result of it are probably permanent. You can't hear all this trauma and not be impacted. The changes experienced are not necessarily bad.
Your own personal pattern of thought and your past experiences effects how you react to specific types of incidents. We may have a tendency to blame the victim when we feel uncomfortable. This separates us from our own feelings and tends to make us treat the victim more rudely. Be aware of your problem areas and when a call of that type is handled, take special care of yourself and be conscious of your reaction to it. Develop support systems consisting of both co-workers and non emergency services workers. Give co-workers permission to not hear your problems when they don't have the psychological energy to deal with it. They are susceptible to the same pressures.
Avoiding Burn-Out
Stress is a state of psychological and physical arousal or "Stress is the confusion created when one's mind overrides the body's desire to choke the life out of some jerk who desperately needs it!"
Stress is the biological link between stressor and symptom. Cumulative stress or burnout is stress resulting from repeated exposure to stressful situations. It takes a long time to develop. As stress increases so does performance. At the optimal stress level, performance has reached it's maximum level. At this level it is called "eustress". If stress continues to increase into the "distress" region, performance quickly declines. Should stress levels remain excessive, health will begin to erode as well.
Characteristics of people that belong to the "Burnout Club" are:
Symptoms of too much stress:
When you observe these symptoms in a co-worker or a co-worker talks to you about a problem, allow them to vent but remember there is a big difference between venting and destroying. Don't allow yourself to get drawn into their issue. Be careful to avoid a "feeding frenzy". Becoming involved in their issue will not diffuse their stress and it will increase your own. Reframe your perspective by asking:
You are not immune from impact but you can limit the impact to yourself by:
copyright © 2000 Millie Miller
