My name is Joan. I grew up on a working dairy farm in New York State, one of five siblings.
My introduction to emergency services began with the show “Emergency” with Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage (1972-1979). Looking back this was my first experience with following a passion-driven career path that was fostered by a critical need.
I worked for Howard County Ambulance District while obtaining my Bachelor's degree in Psychology, first as an EMT then as a Paramedic. I worked for the University of Missouri Hospitals and Clinics as a Supervising Paramedic until 1998 and I was a volunteer firefighter with Boone County Fire Protection District for 19 years where I developed and managed their peer teams. I taught as a Missouri DPS certified specialist instructor for The Law Enforcement Training Academy at the University of Missouri, teaching communication, behavioral emergencies, crisis intervention as well as defensive tactics and firearms. Concurrently I received my Master’s degree in Educational and Counseling Psychology.
For generations there was no consideration for service-related stress and so many peers were discarded as unacceptable because of exhibited or expressed emotional reaction to the inherently graphic and traumatic nature of military and paramilitary work. This destructive devaluing of peers became the critical need that has held my focus since becoming a service provider myself.
First responders are trained and mentored to move toward and manage critical situations. Training should mimic reality as closely and as safely as possible. My goal has been to develop a skill set that allows me to support the natural processing of critical stress. Secondarily I train providers in skills that allow greater personal understanding and care strategies and reduce the potential of a provider developing PTSD.
To support the natural processing of traumatic events I became an EMDR trained therapist in 1995. EMDR is an evidence-based therapy found highly effective with trauma. I am Trauma certified and I am trained in SSP. SSP is an evidence-based therapy based on Steven Porges’s Polyvagal theory. I am licensed as a LPC and an EMT-P.