Thursday, May 27th, 2021 at 10am CST

With May being Mental Health Awareness month, our speakers will highlight incoming mental health calls for telecommunicators. This discussion will cover not only how best to handle those calls, but also the effect those calls have on telecommunicators. We'll also discuss strategies to help support your PSAP. Please join us!

Melissa is currently serving as 911 Communications Director for the City of Roswell Police Department in Metro Atlanta, GA. Her duties include all aspects of management, direction, coordination, training and quality control of the 34-person staffed PSAP. Prior to this position, Melissa worked at Orange County Emergency Services (NY) where she spent the majority of her career in the Training Division. She is also an Adjunct Instructor with APCO International for the last several years. Her passion is teaching dispatchers how to improve their performance; focusing specifically on topics like Active Shooter Incidents, Crisis Negotiations and the core telecommunicator classes. Melissa has also presented at various national dispatch conferences around the Country, speaking on a variety of leadership principles. Melissa is a graduate of Marist College (NY) with a BS in Psychology, and has just completed her MS in Criminal Justice/Public Safety Leadership from Mercer University. She has recently completed two intensive executive leadership programs with APCO, receiving the professional designations of Registered Public Safety Leader (RPL) and Certified Public Safety Executive (CPE). Her focus and priority is to be a mentor, coach, leader and positive role model to members of the 911 community. Melissa also serves on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Association of Women in Public Safety and as the Vice President for the GA 911 Directors Association – Metro Region. She is an experienced instructor, conference coordinator and participant in various public safety areas. Melissa is also serving on the NENA Wellness Acute Stress Standard Workgroup, APCO Professional Developments and Events Committee, Awards Committee, and the Peer Support / CISM Division Head of APCO’s new Health and Wellness Committee. In her spare time, Melissa enjoys family gatherings, volunteer work and quality time with her dog.

A second-generation dispatcher dedicated to the vocation for 28 years. BS in Criminal Justice, MS work in Leadership and Organizational Change. Career began in a single seat dispatch center in 1993, hired and transitioned to Dane County, a consolidated center in 1997. Promoted in 2003 as Communications Supervisor & 2008 as Operations Manager. In 2013 became Waukesha County’s Director of Emergency Preparedness overseeing Communications, Emergency Management, and Radio Services.

Jim is a licensed mental health professional whose 911 Training Institute (911TI) specializes in training for responder resilience and management of calls involving suicide and mental illness. 911TI has created a PSAP Peer Support Program model with a 40-hour certification curriculum, and provides extensive guidance to PSAP partners in building and maintaining these programs. Jim is co-editor of The Resilient 9-1-1 Professional: A Comprehensive Guide to Surviving & Thriving Together in the 9-1-1 Center. In addition, Jim is co-chair of the NENA Acute/Traumatic and Chronic Stress Standard Workgroup, a member of the NENA Wellness Committee, and served as co-chair of the NENA Working Group developing the revised Suicide Prevention Interoperability Standard. Jim's training, publications, research, and conference presentations are dedicated to fostering the performance, well-being, and quality of life of The Very First Responder.