June 2, 2017 at 5:08 p.m.
AODA, criminal justice students participate in joint scenario training at Nicolet
AODA, criminal justice students participate in joint scenario training at Nicolet
By Kayla Thomason-
To that end, students in Nicolet College's AODA (alcohol and other drug abuse) and Criminal Justice programs participated in their first joint scenario training session May 10.
The AODA program is a brand new associate's degree and this is the first class to go through the program.
"It is a new thing and I'm very, very proud of the students that I have," said Tekia Longstreet, AODA program coordinator/instructor. "They are willing to muddle their way through this. Because it's brand new, even though it looked good in the paper, in the curriculum, in Blackboard, it looks good in all those places it doesn't necessarily come out that way so they're doing wonderful."
Students in the AODA program go through a heavy two-year course where they learn the basics of eight practice domains of counseling in regards to AODA issues, which covers screening, orientation, talking to people, reflecting skills and more. At the end of their third semester they can apply for state licensure to become a substance abuse counselor in training. Students also participate in a two-day job shadow at the state health institute.
Those in the AODA program paired up with criminal justice students and representatives from the Human Service Center to run the inaugural training session.
Each student participated in a scenario where they played the role of crisis line worker, dispatcher, screener or an individual in crisis.
"That is something they need to be familiar with, they need to be able to screen somebody appropriately to make sure that somebody is not having suicidal thoughts," Longstreet said. "They want to be looking to make sure people are future-orientated."
"We have an epidemic on our hands, not only with alcohol and drug abuse and the need for crisis intervention, and the fact that people struggle dealing with people and people technically don't always understand people," she added.
"It's not just nationwide, it's community-wide, a family epidemic, an individual epidemic."
According to Longstreet, it is critically important for students to also play the role of an individual in crisis.
"We thought it was very important that they participate in that role as well to understand what it's like to be that person in need and you get to view how people are interacting with you," she said.
This also allows the person who is role playing the individual with the crisis a chance to give feedback to those in the law enforcement and screening roles as to how personable they were, empathetic, sympathetic, rude, sarcastic etc.
"My students really liked being the role players," she said. "I think there's some actors in the midst of some of those students. They also liked the ability to see what it was like to walk in somebody's shoes. I always tell them to walk a mile, no matter what profession you have, to walk a mile, so when you get out in the field help out your receptionist, help out the people who answer the phone calls, help your billing person, get an understanding what everybody does because all of those things come together to help one person and if you don't know or if there is a stigma attached to a judgment in your mind about that you could be harming somebody. So I really encourage them to be supportive of each person and each entity that they work with."
Longstreet thought the training went well, especially given that it was a first attempt.
"If we can come together as a community and remember that each of us are human and that we should work together versus trying to separate what we do, we could maybe make for a healthier and happier community and we would maybe have less crisis as well as less addiction and that's why these activities are priceless to these students and very pertinent in their education," Longstreet said.
The students saw the interaction between the various organizations and how they come together to assist an individual in crisis.
"There's certain rules and regulations that have to be determined to deem someone suicidal in order to maybe (hold) them or to detain them in a sense and we're also required to be least restrictive," Longstreet said.
They always offer the individual the chance to voluntarily seek help, but as a worst case scenario the individual may be involuntarily detained for their own safety.
"The screeners come in to assess the scenario to determine if the person is a harm to themselves, if they're a harm to others, if there's some type of mental health or developmental disability that's making it so, something is significantly wrong, maybe medical concerns. There's a specific criteria that's laid out by the law that determines what the screeners are looking for," she explained.
She said she thinks this training helps the students build a relationship with the various departments and helps them to be more prepared to deal with real-life crisis situations.
"From an interdisciplinary approach, I think it's extremely important they learn to work together," Longstreet said.
Phil Schmidt, instructor in the criminal justice program, was equally pleased with the training session.
"The students did a great job based on the fact that they have had limited exposure to these types of incidents," he said. "They have heard about them, watched videos related to them, but dealing with real people who were not their classmates made this experience very realistic."
The criminal justice students are in their second year of the program. Schmidt said they would not be graded on the scenario training, but they did receive feedback which will hopefully benefit a few come fall.
"Some of the students will do testing scenarios in October which will determine if they become certified law enforcement officers," Schmidt said. "The testing scenarios will be similar to the ones that they went through this week."
Schmidt said he thought the assistance from the various groups really helped to pull the training together and give the students a more complete picture of how crisis situations are handled in the real world.
"The use of the AODA program students and instructor was a key to providing a connection to other disciplines," Schmidt said. "The help from the Human Service Center screeners was beyond what we had hoped. These will be the actual screeners that we will use in the world of work and they were able to guide the students through how the calls will be handled on their end, and how the process ties all of the disciplines together."
Longstreet was pleased with how the students reacted to the scenarios.
"I want the community to know that they have a great bunch of students that are going to be a great bunch of professionals one day," she said.
Each of the students in both programs told their instructors what they learned and offered feedback. With all the positive comments about the scenario training they plan to hold another sessions next year, and the Human Services Department is thinking of ways to make it even better.
Nick Bolte, a student in the AODA program, enjoyed the experience.
"I thought that it was a good way for both of our programs to showcase not only the practical job skills that we have learned so far but to also see how each side handles a situation like the ones that were presented in the training seminar," Bolte said. "It was also a good rapport builder between the two programs, because, ultimately, I may see these students in the field at some point and having a good rapport is crucial in doing our jobs to the best of our abilities and to be able to work together and have a positive relationship."
He played the role of crisis screener, and enjoyed the feedback from those in the field.
"We had two wonderful individuals come down from the Human Service Center in Rhinelander, which provides crisis services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," he said. "They allowed us to ask questions about their job and were able to provide us with feedback during the seminar, and were willing to answer questions and walk us through the scenarios when we had questions or got stuck. The feedback we received from the instructor from the Criminal Justice program, too, was awesome, because we don't always see what they do behind the scenes, and feedback from him was also very helpful and insightful."
Bolte said he thought the seminar was very helpful, not only because he got to see all departments in action and the roles they play, but because "it was a great overall learning experience that will help us grow on a personal and professional level."
Bolte admitted he is a bit nervous about handling his first crisis situation after graduation, and found that the seminar helped ease that feeling.
"I have a lot of development as a future professional yet to complete, but it was definitely an experience that I can grow from on a personal and professional level," he said. "I think I am much better prepared now than I was before."
He hopes that Nicolet continues to have these seminars and hopes other colleges follow suit.
"I hope that this exercise is something that other colleges can see is a viable and useful option, and implement it into their curriculum," he said. "The goal of all of this is to ultimately help people and to address some of the issues in mental health that were stigmatized for so long. I hope to see this grow and turn into a bigger training exercise at some point."
He hopes that he and others he will work with from other fields will learn from one another. Bolte was also impressed with those in the Criminal Justice program.
"I know that in the future when I am working in the field that police officers and individuals in my field will not always get along, and that is just the nature of business from each of our sides of the coin," he said. "I think that we were each able to take away something important from each other, and to see what we go through as professionals in different fields. I have a lot of respect for the amount of work that the criminal justice program puts in and the passion that they show for what they want to do once they graduate. I thought they carried themselves professionally and had a lot of class. We don't always see what goes on behind the scenes, and I have a lot more respect for those individuals who are willing to put their lives on the line every day to protect the public."
He encourages those who want to get into the Criminal Justice or AODA programs to check out Nicolet.
"The knowledge and passion in the instructors in these programs (and all programs), along with the support staff at Nicolet and the resources available on campus make for a positive learning environment," he said. "I think that people don't realize the career possibilities and educational opportunities that are available on our little campus nestled in the Northwoods, but Nicolet offers so much and I am very thankful for Nicolet College, my instructor and my classmates."
There is certainly a need for individuals in these fields.
"The need for qualified law enforcement professionals has never been greater in our area as well as throughout the United States," Schmidt said. "Agencies are asking us to train more students to help fill vacancies within their agencies. Anyone who has an interest in being a law enforcement or corrections officer should contact us so that they can take part in this type of training which will prepare them for a career in these fields."
Kayla Breese may be reached at kayla@ rivernewsonline.com.
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