911 Ouachita Parish dispatcher speaks on mental health in her workforce

West Monroe, La. (KTVE/KARD)– April is recognized as National Stress Awareness Month to raise concern about the impact that stress can have on a person. Today, local NBC 10’s Hannah Clark spoke with a local 911 dispatcher to give more insight.

Emergency 911 dispatchers can be overlooked in the emergency work force, but they play a crucial part when it comes to critical situations. Theresia Porter, an Emergency Call Specialist with the Ouachita Parish Call Center gave more entail about how her role can be mentally challenging. “It can be difficult from being away from your family 8 to 12 hours a day. Sometimes the volume of calls, the types of calls that you receive sometimes, that can be stressful.” Even though the calls can be traumatic at times, Porter says it is important to remain calm not just for the caller, but for herself.

The calls received can be mentally challenging and sometimes unbearable. Porter says, “There have been times where I have had to step out of the room to collect myself. We are able to do that. Our team here is pretty good about supporting each other and sometimes you do just have to do that, just step away and to collect yourself because if you aren’t able to do your job, your failing not only your team, but the citizens that your serve.”

Our first responders take on mental strain when it comes to protecting their citizens of Ouachita Parish. Free counseling sessions are available to the dispatch team, if needed. Porter says it is important to utilize those resources, but for her, the best way to cope is it to, “leave work at work.” Porter says that, “after been doing this for a while, it does get to you. We’ve had some pretty traumatic things happen in our community over the years and sometimes you need to go and utilize those services.”