Peer Support & Resilience Training

This 3-day course combines ICISF’s Assisting Individuals in Crisis & Group Crisis Intervention. The course is 27 hours (10-hour days, including 1-hour lunch break). 

WCSO Public Safety Training Center

600 SW Walnut St., Hillsboro, OR 97123

It is designed to present the core elements of a comprehensive, systematic and multi-component crisis intervention curriculum. Further, it prepares participants to understand a wide range of crisis intervention services for both the individual and for groups. Fundamentals of Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) will be outlined, and participants will leave with the knowledge and tools to provide several group crisis interventions, specifically demobilizations, defusings and the Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD). The need for appropriate follow-up services and referrals, when necessary, will also be discussed.

Instructor: Stephanie M. Conn

Hosted by: Kirkland Police Department

Venue: Kirkland Justice Center

11750 NE 118th ST 

Kirkland, WA 98034

Join us for a 4-day in-person ASAP Peer Support Training event in Kirkland, WA . This training will delve into psychoeducation around stress and trauma, explore why trauma is unique in first responders, and equip you with confidence in administering ASAP to your peers. Our experienced trainers will cover a range of topics to enhance your effectiveness as a peer supporter. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and make a positive impact in your community. Register now to secure your spot!

This 2-hour virtual training addresses the unique sleep challenges faced by first responders, including trouble falling or staying asleep, early awakenings, and recurring nightmares. Participants will learn the neuroscience behind sleep and how the nervous system affects rest and recovery. The course offers practical, evidence-based strategies to improve sleep quality—both during and outside of shifts—including techniques to wind down after high-adrenaline calls, shift work adaptations, and nervous system regulation throughout the day. Additional topics include strategic napping, the effects of nutrition and exercise on sleep, and the role of medications and supplements. Tips for changing sleep schedules will also be offered. The session also provides resources for ongoing support and improving long-term sleep health.

This training provides a plain language explanation of the science behind chronic stress and cumulative trauma. You'll learn how to recognize and normalize trauma reactions in your peers, helping to reduce stigma, ease feelings of shame, and promote healthier coping strategies. These include evidence-based tools for use in the immediate aftermath of an event to lessen the ongoing impact. Lastly, you'll learn strengths-based communication strategies that enhance your peer's ability to recover from trauma and improve peer connection and trust.

Sometimes, peers make it hard to want to support them. Yet we know that “hurt people hurt people” and they still deserve peer support. This 2-hour virtual course discusses how to get past their prickly exterior to support them. This includes how to reframe judgment about behavior that has contributed to their situation so that you can have the best chance to bring out the wounded person within who needs your help.

Dispatcher/ call-takers often can't use typical strategies recommended to other first responders since they're stuck at the console. This 2-hour live webinar offers proactive & responsive steps to lessen the impact of stress and trauma while AT the console. It begins with a plain-language discussion of the neurobiology of trauma to lay the groundwork for the recommended strategies that follow. You'll be given tools for managing distress and promoting adaptive processing that can be performed pre-emptively outside of work and in the moments of distressing calls while remaining at the console.

Instructor: Stephanie M. Conn

Hosted by: Cedar Park Police (TX)

Venue: PSTC 1204 Fire Lane, Cedar Park, TX  78613

Join us for a 4-day in-person ASAP Peer Support Training event in Cedar Park, TX. This training will delve into psychoeducation around stress and trauma, explore why trauma is unique in first responders, and equip you with confidence in administering ASAP to your peers. Our experienced trainers will cover a range of topics to enhance your effectiveness as a peer supporter. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and make a positive impact in your community. Register now to secure your spot!

This 2-hour virtual course is for those ASAP-trained peer support members, chaplains & clinicians who hope to maintain their skills. 

Course Outline:

• Review of ASAP 
• Updates to protocol
• Recent research findings
• Current implementations / agency usage
• Demonstration of an ASAP
• Debriefing of process
• Q&A

This course will describe how first responders can take proactive and responsive steps to adaptively respond to chronic stress and trauma. A discussion of the risk and protective factors that influence wellbeing is offered to assist first responders to understand their own experiences with trauma and stress and how to mitigate their impact. This will include a plain-language discussion of the neurobiology of trauma. Resilience research is applied to the unique issues of first responder work, generating practical strategies to promote resilience. This discussion will be fortified with practical exercises that assess current levels of resilience and map a resilience-building plan. 

In this course, I will discuss how to identify that a peer might be at risk for suicide. This will include a discussion of the research on risk factors contributing to first responder suicide. Two models of suicide, the gradual and impulsive, will be discussed so that attendees have a comprehensive understanding of how first responder suicide can manifest. We will discuss how to recognize, intervene, and connect peers to resources. Local and national resources will be offered.

In this course, I will discuss how to identify that a peer might be at risk for suicide. This will include a discussion of the research on risk factors contributing to first responder suicide. Two models of suicide, the gradual and impulsive, will be discussed so that attendees have a comprehensive understanding of how first responder suicide can manifest. We will discuss how peer supporters can recognize, intervene, and connect peers to resources. Local and national resources will be offered. Additionally, we will discuss recommended policies and procedures relating to voluntary

and involuntary emergency support for a suicidal peer.