Course Overview

Course Length: 3 Hours
Certification is valid for: 24 Months
Continuing Education Credits: 4

$140

Many responders typically do not seek treatment until they are actively in crisis and experiencing suicidal ideation. Responders who are suicidal face additional career-related stressors that prevent them from seeking help. Clinicians must learn how to navigate the intricacies of suicidal responders, their access to lethal means, and the feelings of isolation, shame, and despair associated with this population. Sadly, many responders choose to act on this ideation. So, this course also prepares clinicians how to deal with the aftermath a suicide has on fellow responders, their agencies, and their communities. This can be taken as a single course, or as part of the Emergency Responder and Public Safety Certified Clinician program.

Looking for the ERPSCC Bundle?

The bundle includes all 14 Emergency Responder and Public Safety Clinician Certification (ERPSCC) courses.
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Course Objectives

  • Gain a comprehensive understanding of the issues surrounding emergency responder and public safety personnel suicide.

  • Discover protective and risk factors specific to the emergency responder population

  • Learn to create intervention strategies at various levels, both organizationally and individually, with those individuals struggling with thoughts of suicide.

  • Discover some tips in helping with post-suicide care and support

What to expect:

  • High quality video instruction from our course presenters

  • A downloadable PDF overview document for the course

  • A state-of-the-art learning environment with easy course navigation and the ability to access your courses on any device

  • Instant certificate delivery upon successful course completion

  • Quick access to course support and feedback from your student dashboard

Meet Your Instructors:

Jaime Brower, Psy. D., ABPP

Dr. Jaime Brower has devoted herself to serving emergency responders and their loved ones for more than 20 years. The breadth of her professional experience includes work with law enforcement, fire, corrections/detentions, EMS, dispatch, victim advocates, military, probation/parole, and other associated professionals. Dr. Brower supports more than 150 agencies nationally at local, state, and federal levels by offering public safety related services, including counseling services, peer support team development, training and oversight, critical incident response, psychological testing and evaluations, both organizational and operational consultation, and threat and risk assessment. Dr. Brower is American Board Certified in Police & Public Safety Psychology (ABPPSP) and currently serves on the ABPPSP Board, as its Academy President.

Rhonda Kelly

Rhonda served as an EMT in the Antarctic, as well as a career and volunteer EMT in Colorado. She spent 17 years as a firefighter/paramedic and worked part time as an ER and Psych ER nurse. During the last few years of her career as a firefighter, she accepted the role of Health & Safety Officer, building out a behavioral health program for the agency. In 2016, she founded ResponderStrong (an initiative to improve mental health support for responders and their families) and continues to serve as its Executive Director. As a master trainer, she works with the Center for Relationship Education to conduct relationship and communication skills training specific to responder families. Currently, she also serves as the National Director of Health, Wellness, and Resilience for Global Medical Response, the largest EMS organization in the world.

Michael Pitrusu

Mike Pitrusu is a sergeant with a major city agency of 746 sworn officers that provides comprehensive police services to a diverse city of 374,000 residents. He has served as the Executive Officer to the Chief of Police and leads the department’s Employee Support and Wellness Unit (ESWU). During his 20-year law enforcement career, Sergeant Pitrusu has been assigned to the Patrol Division as a Patrol and Community Resource officer, and the Special Operations Bureau as a Special Weapons and Tactics Team Leader, Sniper, and Sergeant. However, his current assignment within the Employee Support and Wellness Unit has been the most rewarding of his distinguished career.

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