July 30, 2025 | 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Brittney Amara Rust, 911 Telecommunicator/Dispatcher/Certified Training Officer, Metro Nashville Department of Emergency Communication
Emergency telecommunicator Brittney Rust transformed a crowded conference room into an intimate classroom where the stakes of emergency communication became deeply personal. Her session, “Psychology 101: How to Talk to Those in Crisis,” wasn’t just another training module — it was a master class in the delicate art of verbal judo and the psychology behind saving lives through words alone.
Rust’s approach centered on understanding how trauma reshapes the brain, particularly affecting the prefrontal cortex responsible for mood regulation and rational thought, and the hippocampus that helps differentiate between past and present. “The more trauma you endure, the more trauma you put yourself through … your brain keeps score,” she explained, helping dispatchers recognize that callers in crisis aren’t just having a bad day — they’re operating with fundamentally altered brain chemistry. Her “mask theory” provided a powerful coping mechanism for dispatchers themselves: adopting a professional persona at work to prevent absorbing the trauma they encounter daily, then leaving that mask at the office when their shift ends.
The session’s most powerful moment came when Rust shared her experience with a suicidal teenager who called at 2:30 a.m. After Rust built rapport and stayed on the line until responders arrived, the girl told her something that exemplified the profound impact emergency communicators can have: “I think you saved my life tonight.” This wasn’t just about following protocols — it was about applying Dr. George Thompson’s five universal truths, including that all people want to be respected, prefer to be asked rather than told, and deserve to know why they’re being asked to do something.
Rather than treating mental health calls as obstacles to overcome, Rust reframed them as opportunities for human connection. Her message resonated throughout the room: in a profession where dispatchers cannot physically fight or flee from crisis situations, their words become their most powerful tools. By combining psychological insight with practical communication techniques, emergency communicators can transform potentially tragic calls into moments of genuine lifesaving intervention — one conversation at a time.
Written by Stephanie Reed
