Response
Training
Programs

Advanced Response Crisis Intervention Instructor Program (ARC-II)

Headed to The Netherlands

Response Training Programs will be back at Emergis in November 2009. Emergis is a multi service psychiatric hospital that serves the population in the area known as Zeeland (meaning sea land). The Dutch are famous for their work in reclaiming land from the sea. This area of The Netherlands has had more than their share of devastating floods.

The Dutch, it should be known, visited New Orleans and studied the dikes and levee systems surrounding the area in the years prior to the Katrina Hurricane. Based on what they saw there and additional findings, the Delta Project was built. This world wonder project is a series of sea barriers that can be opened and closed during storm surges and protect the people of Zeeland.

This capacity of the Dutch to look beyond their own borders and vast knowledge base for answers and practices that benefit their people as a whole is a model for all.

In the fall of 2008, Emergis had 16 staff members trained as instructors in the Response Crisis Intervention Model. The initial work of these certified Response Instructors with the hospital’s administrative dedication to reduce the use of seclusion has had a significantly positive impact at the hospital. A paper on their findings is expected in the Spring of 2010.

With 1300 more employees to be trained at Emergis in the Response 2- Day Crisis Intervention Model, the need for in-house Response Instructors has been recognized. Therefore, Emergis and Response have embarked on a joint venture to begin a four-stage process of training advanced Response Instructors. This advanced program certifies Advanced Response Crisis Intervention Instructors (ARC-II pronounced ARC Twos). It will allow Emergis to conduct their own future in-house Response Training for Trainers seminars.

The ARC-II Program requires candidates to co-teach four consecutive Training for Trainers seminars with Response. They must meet Response standards of excellence in teaching and facilitation in this capacity.

This November a team of five ARC-II Apprentices will be co-teaching their first Training for Trainers under the tutelage of Response Founder and C.E.O. Alexandria Windcaller. She shares, “Emergis is a perfect fit for the ARC-II Program. Going beyond the universal knowledge that crisis intervention is a necessary skill for workers, Emergis understands that the Response Model can be an integral component of workplace wellness and safety for all.”

Below: 2008 Graduates of Response Training for Trainers at Emergis with their Response Colleagues C. Donadio (front 2nd in from left and A. Windcaller (front 5th in from left)