An Answer for First-Party Callers Experiencing Mental Health Crises

Protocol 41: Caller in Crisis (1st Party Only) is what your Emergency Dispatchers need to serve the members of your community who are at risk of suicide or other severe mental health outcomes.

ProQA / Caller in Crisis

Helping your Community through the suicide crisis starts with your Emergency Dispatchers

With suicidal ideation and risk on the rise, Emergency Dispatchers regularly encounter more and more severe mental health calls. Protocol 41: Caller in Crisis (1^st Party Only) provides them with the necessary tools and training to help callers through mental health crises. Protocol 41 is supported by a brief but powerful training designed by the IAED to help Emergency Dispatchers use Protocol 41, build the necessary resilience to take these calls without burning out, and de-escalate first-party callers in crisis while help is on the way.

Activating Protocol 41: Caller in Crisis (1^st Party Only) is as simple as training your EMDs and following a few administrative steps to activate your license.

Activate Protocol 41

Mental health crisis calls affect callers and the Emergency Dispatchers who help them. Protocol 41 was built to help both.

Protocol 41 Makes The Hardest Calls More Manageable

Getting Started is Easy

If your center is already using MPDS v14.0.219 in ProQA v5.1.1.50 or later, turning on Protocol 41: Caller in Crisis (1^st Party Only) is as easy as getting your EMDs set up with a quick, self-paced training, and verifying that all your EMDs have completed that training.

Powerful Training for EMDs

Four one-hour modules show Emergency Dispatchers the fundamentals of Protocol 41, how to use its Mental States Menu, how to utilize the protocol at a higher level, and how to build emotional resilience so these heavy calls don't burn them out.

Focus on What the Caller Needs

Protocol 41: Caller in Crisis helps Emergency Dispatchers focus on the specific needs of the caller, giving them options to dispatch the right help for the caller's situation, with expanded Determinant Codes to send mental health professionals, if deemed appropriate.

Increased Safety, Lower Risk

Using the Protocol 41 interrogation process, EMDs with proper training can assist the patient and de-escalate the potential for violence so the agency can better respond with appropriate mental health professionals.

Get the Guide

We built an easy-to-follow guide that takes you from training to activating Protocol 41. Follow it to get Protocol 41 turned on as simply as possible.

We have more tools to address each potential emotional state the caller could be experiencing and connect with them. We have three confirmed saves due to the use of Protocol 41. Our Law Enforcement partners have also expressed praise, including a commendation for a dispatcher and a save that was a direct result of Protocol 41.

-Meghan Monaco, Quality Assurance Manager, Hendricks County Communications Center

Even if you're still going to send police, fire, and/or and ambulance to every caller in crisis, I still think there's extreme value in the ability for dispatchers to have Protocol 41 and the Emotional Contro Tool in their toolbox to help people that might be suicidal or having a major crisis in their life at the time.

Brandon Miller, Executive Director, Illinois Valley Regional Dispatch

It's one more person with a crisis and you get that fatigue. You get that compassion fatigue. This breaks you out of it. This makes it not optional. You have somebody who's calling, you have somebody who needs your help. And just the structure of that protocol, you can't help but feel compassion. You can't help but build a rapport.

Jonathan Flynn, Training and Compliance Specialist, Allina Health Emergency Medical Services

Training for Emergency Medical Dispatchers

Protocol 41: Caller in Crisis works because of its powerful program. The course is online, self-paced, takes about four hours to complete, and counts toward Continuing Dispatch Education. Its four modules are necessary for the successful implementation of Protocol 41. An additional multiple-day course is recommended for supervisors and goes in-depth on mental health in public safety.

Caller in Crisis Essentials

Provides foundational skills for understanding and speaking to callers struggling with suicide, self-injurious behavior, and other mental health crises.

Using The Mental States Menu

Teaches the ins and outs of a tool designed to help de-escalate callers whose mental state prevents them from cooperating with the dispatcher.

Using Protocol 41

Introduces Protocol 41 in a practice-based approach, allowing Emergency Dispatchers to become familiar with the questions and instructions contained in Protocol 41.

Boosting Your Resilience

Helps EMDs develop strategies to maintain their own mental health, reducing burnout and giving Emergency Dispatchers the tools they need to cope with these challenging calls.

Do You Have MPDS v14.0.219 in ProQA v5.1.1.50 or later? Activate Protocol 41: Caller in Crisis (1st Party Only) Now!

Turning on Protocol 41: Caller in Crisis (1st Party Only) only takes a few simple steps and some basic training.

Get Started

FAQS

What is Protocol 41: Caller in Crisis (1st Party Only), and how does it work?

Protocol 41 is the industry's only targeted emergency dispatch protocol for first-party callers experiencing suicide ideation and risk. It equips Emergency Dispatchers with the necessary tools and training to give at-risk callers the support they need.

Is the training mandatory for EMDs?

Yes, a self-paced training session of roughly four, one-hour modules is mandatory for Emergency Dispatchers before Protocol 41 is activated. This training ensures they are fully prepared to handle mental health emergencies and utilize Protocol 41 at the highest level.

Does the training count toward CDE?

Yes! Protocol 41: Caller in Crisis training counts toward your Continuing Dispatch Education.

How does Protocol 41: Caller in Crisis (1st Party Only) reduce risk to patients and responders?

Protocol 41 provides specific instructions to manage safety risks upon arrival, including separation from and securing of weapons, increasing the safety for all involved.