“The mind is its own place and in itself can make heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”
Milton – Paradise Lost

The past decade in public safety training has been extraordinary. Evidence-based practices have brought the realms of science and research from various disciplines such as psychology, neurology, sports science and many others into our training paradigms. Likewise, improvements in technology have provided officers with the most advanced equipment and weaponry. Undoubtedly, these cutting-edge training methodologies and equipment have ensured Canada’s law enforcement officers and other public safety professionals are the most prepared they have ever been to enter the realm of crisis events and succeed.

This dynamic and riveting course will discuss what is perhaps the most under-addressed areas in training persons engaged in critical occupations: critical incident stress. It is truly a tragedy when a first responder survives the ‘fog of combat’ only to be later taken out by the avoidable effects of critical incident stress and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this session we will discuss the fundamental understanding of the workings of the mind, how critical incidents affect performance and memory formation and retrieval and how such memories impact behaviour below our level of consciousness. Finally, we will explore how to imbed personal habits and training methods (such as visualization, mindfulness and emotional intelligence) with strategies to further armour our minds to be extremely resilient against the potentially debilitating effects of traumatic incidents.

Throughout this course Chris will discuss his personal journey with PTSD – which has been published as a book chapter and is also used as a study module by students in the Psychology degree program at Berry College in Georgia.

To book this course for your organization, contact Chris Butler at chris@raptorprotection.com.