The work of emergency communications personnel is emotionally charged. Whether it’s working with callers, field units or fellow coworkers, the emotional dimension is often the most individually impactful, yet also the most overlooked.
In fact, a career in public safety necessarily causes each of us to be less empathetic and less perceptive when it comes to understanding this hidden side. Working with people who are experiencing traumatic situations, as an emergency communications professional does every day, changes one’s perceptions of the world, and can even make you “feel dead inside,” as one 9-1-1 dispatcher succinctly put it. Coined “emotional numbing,” it’s the natural… READ MORE
