Bulletin 6 – 20 PEER SUPPORT TRAINING

January 31, 2020
Bulletin 6 – 20

PEER SUPPORT TRAINING

MARCH 31, APRIL 1 & APRIL 2, 2020

UFLAC Office – 1571 Beverly Blvd. from 8am until 5pm

 

The United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, is excited to offer the Three-Day Group Crisis Intervention and Assisting Individuals in Crisis Training (GRIN).  The Group Crisis Intervention section is designed to teach the central elements of a “comprehensive, systematic and multi-component crisis intervention curriculum.”  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, and understand the value and importance of follow up services including when and how to make appropriate referrals to vetted professionals when needed.  As Peer Support, has grown and developed over the years the type of services that Peer Support Personnel provide have also changed.  In the past, most Peer Support occurred in a group setting assisting Mental Health Professionals with defusing’s and debriefings.  While there is still an important place for group interventions, today Peers are providing crisis intervention, utilizing a Peer based model.  While crisis intervention is NOT Psychotherapy, it is a “specialized acute emergency mental health intervention which requires specialized training.  As physical first aid is to surgery, crisis intervention is to psychotherapy.”  This section of the class, Assisting Individual in Crisis, is designed to teach participants the fundamentals of, and a specific protocol for individual (one to one) crisis intervention.

The curriculum that we are utilizing is material that has been developed by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF).  We will provide each participant who successfully completes the full three days of training, with Certificates of Completion from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, which is a nationally recognized Certification.

Tiffani Collier, the main trainer for our class, is one of three CISM trainers for the United States Coast Guard and we are very grateful to the Coast Guard for releasing Tiffani to provide our Training.  In 2000 Tiffani achieved Trainer status with the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation after leading over 600 Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) interventions for first responders after the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261.  Tiffani has coordinated CISM responses for maritime law enforcement teams, and led interventions following suicides and line of duty deaths, mid-air collisions of military aircraft and she aided after Hurricanes Katrina and Ike.  I have personally had the opportunity to work with Tiffani in the past, and I know that you will get a lot out of her training.

If you are interested in taking this three-day training, please let us know so that we can have enough materials for everyone.  To receive the certification each participant will need to complete the full three days.

PLEASE RSVP BY:   March 12, 2020

RSVP TO:   Maria Rendon via email:   [email protected]

 

Executive Board

United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, Local 112