First Responder Event.png
First Responder Event.png

Communication Strategies for Emotional Agility — 9/18/2026

$40.00

9:00am - 12:00noon

Description:

There is a significant emotional ask placed on first responders. On call, first responders are asked to be problem-solvers, logical, decisive, and hold a healthy emotional distance. At home, the ask is to be flexible, to listen and not solve, be playful, and attentive. These are two very distinct emotional skill sets that require emotional agility. This class will explore the concept of emotional agility, and teach communication strategies to support emotional agility between work life and home life.

Objectives:

  1. Participants will be able to define emotional agility in relation to home life and first responder careers.

  2. Participants will learn levels of validation and demonstrate the ability to use validation to aid in emotional agility from work to home.

  3. Participants will learn tactical pause to enhance emotional agility skills.

*3 POST credit hours pending

9:00am - 12:00noon

Description:

There is a significant emotional ask placed on first responders. On call, first responders are asked to be problem-solvers, logical, decisive, and hold a healthy emotional distance. At home, the ask is to be flexible, to listen and not solve, be playful, and attentive. These are two very distinct emotional skill sets that require emotional agility. This class will explore the concept of emotional agility, and teach communication strategies to support emotional agility between work life and home life.

Objectives:

  1. Participants will be able to define emotional agility in relation to home life and first responder careers.

  2. Participants will learn levels of validation and demonstrate the ability to use validation to aid in emotional agility from work to home.

  3. Participants will learn tactical pause to enhance emotional agility skills.

*3 POST credit hours pending

Meet Your Trainer

Heather Cruz, MA, LPCC is the Founder and Director of Meadows Center for Mental Health Services, LLC. She received her Master's degree in Counseling and Psychological Services through St. Mary's University of Minnesota and is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), in addition to being a board certified supervisor for clinical licensees. Heather is nationally certified in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) through the DBT-Linehan Board of Certification (DBT-LBC), and is the team lead for The Meadows Center’s nationally certified DBT program. 

Heather is extensively trained in Prolonged Exposure (PE and DBT-PE) to treat PTSD, and is an IS-ART Basic Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) Practitioner. She specializes in First Responder mental wellness, and offers wellness programming to first responder departments.

Meadows Center for Mental Health Services, LLC will refund workshop participants should a scheduled event be cancelled due to weather or the health of the presenter.  Participants will not be refunded for partial attendance, missed attendance, or if they are unsatisfied with the workshop.  The presenter may offer refunds or discounts to participants based on their own discretion. All program fees, cancellation, and refund information will be made available to participants upon registration. 

Meadows Center for Mental Health Services, LLC will maintain the confidentiality of participants, including name and related program participation, from the general public.  Upon request of workshop participants, information about the workshop or the participants name may be shared with licensing boards. 

Meadows Center for Mental Health Services LLC welcomes both positive and complaint feedback. All aspects of a complaint will be handled in confidence. However, if the complaint involves allegations of illegal or unethical behavior, information may need to be shared with external authorities.  All complaints are documented. The maintenance of complaint files is the responsibility of Meadows Center for Mental Health Services, LLC Owner.