Most people think they understand 911. They know someone picks up. What they don't know is everything that happens in the seconds after—and that gap, it turns out, costs more than anyone realizes. In this special episode recorded in honor of 911 Education Month, host Lori Henricksen brings together three members of the GovWorks education team—Chief of Public Safety Engagement Tipi Brookins, Director of 911 Education Halcyon Frank, and Manager of Applied 911 Education Michael Mollo—for a panel conversation about why education might be the single most powerful and most underestimated tool in emergency communications.

Tipi says it best: if the public truly understood what telecommunicators do—the split-second decisions, the technical juggling, the weight of being the lifeline between a caller in crisis and a responder heading toward danger—they wouldn't just be less frustrated when they're asked a lot of questions. They'd be in awe. Closing that gap isn't just good community relations. It makes every call go better.

But this episode goes well beyond public awareness. Lori and her guests get into what real professional development looks like for telecommunicators, why the training that actually sticks is never just a checklist, and what happens to good people when agencies stop investing in them after they clear training. The workforce crisis in 911 isn't going to be solved by recruiting alone—and this panel makes a compelling case for what it actually takes to build a profession people choose to stay in.

Each panelist brings a moment that makes it personal. Tipi's memory of guiding a mother through infant CPR on an Amtrak train on what may have been her very first solo call. Halcyon's description of watching the lightbulb turn on for a dispatcher in training. Michael's reminder that every call carries real consequences—for the person taking it and the responders heading out because of it.

The episode ends with a challenge: do something. One post. One community event. One honest conversation with your team. Because as Tipi puts it, education is the liability insurance you can't buy.

If you work in 911—or you care about the people who do—this one is worth your full attention.

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What if you could hand a high schooler a headset, put them in a simulated 911 center, and watch the moment they realize this job is nothing like they imagined? In this episode, host Lori Henricksen sits down with Teresa Burgamy—IT manager at Fresno County Sheriff's, lead dispatch instructor at Fresno City College Police Academy, and the woman behind one of the most innovative 911 outreach programs in the country—to talk about what it actually looks like to recruit the next generation before they even graduate.

Teresa's path into emergency communications started at twelve years old through an explorer program in a small California town, and she's spent the decades since finding every possible way to bring others into the profession she loves. Her latest project might be her most creative yet: partnering with Fresno County's Regional Occupational Program to bring a fully retrofitted mobile dispatch trailer—complete with ten computers, ambient lighting, and AI-powered simulation calls—directly to high school students who didn't even know 911 dispatching was a career option.

The results are exactly what you'd hope for. Students walk in nervous, hands shaking, not sure what to expect. A few calls in, they're competing with each other for the highest score, calling out the questions their classmates missed, and having the kind of "aha moments" that stick for life—like the student who realized too late that asking "do you have a weapon?" and "is there a weapon?" are not the same question.

Lori and Teresa dig into why simulation-based learning works when lectures don't, how AI removes the bias and coaching that human role-players unintentionally provide, and why reaching students at this age doesn't just fill a pipeline—it educates their families, their teachers, and their entire communities about what dispatchers actually do. They also get practical about how any agency, regardless of size or budget, can start building these relationships with local schools—from guest speaking at a career day to partnering with existing ROTC or vocational programs.

If your center is struggling with recruitment and you're looking for a strategy that builds genuine passion for the profession before candidates ever walk through your door, this episode is the conversation you need to hear.

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Pizza parties and themed dress-up days aren't a wellness program. And in this episode, host Lori Henricksen sits down with Tipi Brookins—Chief of Public Safety Engagement at GovWorks and former Chief of Staff at DC 911—to talk about what real wellness actually looks like in a 911 center, and why getting it right is the difference between a center that retains people and one that slowly burns through them.

Tipi's relationship with 911 started before she ever worked in it. She called for her seriously ill father and experienced firsthand what it means to need that voice on the other end of the line. What followed was a career that took her through Amtrak Police, Montgomery County, the Metropolitan Police Department, and eventually to the highest levels of emergency communications leadership—with plenty of hard lessons along the way. She opens up about navigating toxic culture, carrying grief on the job, the slow drift of "mentally quitting," and what it felt like to lose an officer on her shift. These aren't stories she tells for effect. They're the experiences that shaped everything she now believes about how comm centers should treat their people.

She and Lori dig into what trust, psychological safety, and emotional intelligence actually look like on the floor—not in a leadership seminar, but in the everyday moments that set the tone for an entire center. A check-in at the start of a shift. Feedback delivered with fairness and context. QA that builds confidence instead of quietly eroding it. Recognition that doesn't wait for Telecommunicator Week. The presence of a supervisor who's actually visible and engaged. None of it is complicated. None of it requires a budget line item. And all of it matters more than most leaders realize.

For centers dealing with staffing shortages, burnout, and turnover—which is most of them—Tipi offers something more useful than inspiration: she offers a realistic roadmap. What to prioritize when resources are thin, where culture breaks down without anyone noticing, and why "take care of your people and they will take care of you" isn't a feel-good slogan—it's a retention strategy.

If you lead a comm center, supervise a team, or work the floor and wonder why things feel the way they do, this episode will give you language for what you're experiencing and a place to start changing it.

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