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The 15th Wing Sexual Assault Prevention and Response office hosted a crisis response training for first responders at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, at the Binnicker Professional Military Education center Dec. 8-12. The class was open to members of all services and in addition to the victim advocates, was attended by first responders from the fire department, mental health office, security forces squadron and chaplain’s office. During the 40-hour course, attendees were trained on techniques and protocols for providing crisis intervention to traumatized people by instructors from the National Organization for Victim Assistance. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Terri Paden/RELEASED)

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15th Wing hosts crisis response training

Published Dec. 12, 2014
By Tech. Sgt. Terri Paden
15th Wing Public Affairs

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- The 15th Wing Sexual Assault Prevention and Response office hosted a crisis response training for first responders at JBPHH at the Binnicker Professional Military Education center Dec. 8-12.

The training is the first of its kind for first responders in the Pacific theater and focuses on the fundamentals of crisis and trauma.

The class was open to members of all services and in addition to the victim advocates, was attended by first responders from the fire department, mental health office, security forces squadron and chaplain's office.

During the 40-hour course, attendees were trained on techniques and protocols for providing crisis intervention to traumatized people by instructors from the National Organization for Victim Assistance.

Though the training was hosted by the 15th WG SAPR office, 1st Lt. Molly Morrissey, 15th WG deputy sexual assault response coordinator, said the week was geared toward responding to and preventing crisis of all types and not just sexual assaults.

"For the VA's a lot of times when they meet with someone initially, there is a lot of trauma involved," she said. "But this is a joint training with other first responders because many of them will work together during crisis situations."

Morrissey said the training was a good opportunity for first responders to build upon the skills they already have as well as work on team building and networking.

Tech. Sgt. Charmaine Fiandt, a 324th Intelligence Squadron language analyst and victim advocate, said the class helped answer a lot of questions for her regarding how to better speak to and understand sexual assault victims.

According to Fiandt, the class also taught the attendees how to perform group crisis interventions.

"Even though this class wasn't focused on sexual assaults we learned a lot of things that can easily be transferred to victim interaction," she said. "A lot of the information can also be taken back to the units to better equip supervisors with handling crisis situations within the unit."

In addition to crisis intervention, Fiandt said she also picked up good crisis prevention skills from the training.

"I think they taught us great preventative methods as far as teaching us what to look for from people in distress," she said. "One you have identified a person in distress you can then use the NOVA protocol we learned to deal with it and help alleviate crisis before anything bad happens."

Fiandt said the class was definitely beneficial for all first responders.

"The trainers broke down a lot of dos and don'ts of handling crises," she said. "They also taught us how to apply intervention to a wide range of people and the information can definitely be used in any situation where there is grief or death."

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