Specifications include, but are not limited to: The Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Watershed Management Division (WSMD) staff educate, provide technical assistance, and regulate activities involving our surface waters. This leads to frequent interactions withthe general population of Vermont. Not uncommonly, staff conduct solo visits with landowners where negative confrontations can occur. Division staff need formal training and appropriate skills to prevent interactions from escalatingto violence (verbal or physical) for a customer service, personal wellbeing, and safety standpoint. WSMD, comprises of 90 environmental scientists and technicians (not law enforcement personnel), of which approximately half of which will participate in this verbal de-escalation training. DEC is seeking proposals for 7 hours of virtual training in verbal de-escalation, catered to the type of situations Division staff encounter. Diversity and inclusion shall be a part this training through guidance on de-escalation tools for women and minority practitioners and audiences. The training could be all day, but preferably would be two half-day sessions. The training will be geared towards improving staff’s verbal communication skills, how to deflect and redirect verbal abuse, diffuse encounters which are potentially volatile, increase situational awareness skills, and how to protect staff’s professional and emotional wellbeing. Training must have a “hands-on” component of role playing using virtual break out rooms. Participants who complete the training will leave with a toolkit of enhanced communication skills to successfully respond to verbal confrontations in an equitable manner.
