Humainologie creative dialogue on Changing First Responder Culture Wednesday September 8
- Arthur Clark
- Sep 6, 2021
- 2 min read
"Trauma in a person, decontextualized over time, looks like personality.
Trauma in a family, decontextualized over time, looks like family traits.
Trauma in a people, decontextualized over time, looks like culture."
- Resmaa Menakem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resmaa_Menakem
We have heard a lot about police violence, yet it is often the police who save lives and suffer trauma, even death, in the line of duty. This coming Wednesday will give us an opportunity to dialogue with a Calgary police officer – Jas Kainth - and one of our own dialogue group - Thy Nguyen - who works closely with Calgary Police Services. Thy has provided the quote from Resmaa Menakem above. Our topic is Changing First Responder Culture. Here is Thy’s introduction to the creative dialogue she and Staff Sergeant Jas Kainth will facilitate:
Questions for the group:
1. Read the quote above and imagine the kinds of trauma First Responders, such as Police officers, Emergency Medical Technicians, Fire Fighters, Emergency Room Staff, face in their day-to-day work.
2. What might be common coping mechanisms?
3. What are challenges to changing a culture in general and First Responder Cultures, in particular?
I'll then ask our guest, Staff Sergeant, Jas Kainth to respond to those questions from his personal experience and then we'll move into attempts that Jas and I have made to change Calgary Police Culture.
Thy has also suggested we watch this presentation:
This Ted Talk is a good snapshot of some challenges and a possible opportunity for change.
Here is an essential observation on how to move forward:
“True public safety requires a collaboration between law enforcement and the community.” - Betsy Hodges https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Hodges
Here are two other TED talks on how to follow that advice:
one on how police and the public can create safer neighborhoods together
and another on how youngsters and police have connected to build bridges for the same purpose
https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_ill_se7en_acuna_how_we_build_bridges_between_police_officers_youth
Our dialogue on September 8 might provide an opportunity to do something similar in Calgary.
Here is the (recently revised) Zoom link provided by Shinobu for the dialogue:
Topic: Humainologie creative dialogue Time: Sep 8, 2021 06:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada) Every week on Wed, until Oct 27, 2021, 8 occurrence(s) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83728528644?pwd=VmxxbDRSdHoxbU1Jam5rYnlPbnB0UT09 Meeting ID: 837 2852 8644 Passcode: 12345
Join us next Wednesday to explore possibilities for a better future in our city.
Arthur
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