For years, CRI, our partners, our allies around the country and world have been raising awareness about the brain and its states in the brainstem, limbic system, and prefrontal cortex. Research in neuroscience has helped create understanding about the way activation in each of these areas produces different behavior. And in turn, we have learned how to recognize when individuals are in one state, and how to move them into another. Though assessing feelings of safety and connection, we're able to facilitate learning. By identifying when a person's brainstem or limbic system is activated, we can help them move into the calmer prefrontal cortex.
In the case of the Walla Walla police department, we are proud to witness their de-escalation training in practice. Last month, they posted a photo to their Facebook of Officer Smith using his training to help calm a woman in distress. The safety and connection he created is evident.
View the link on their Facebook here.
In immediate application, this practice can prove difficult, yet rewarding; it is easy to ourselves get triggered while watching another in a heightened emotional state. Yet it may be imperative to initiate a practice such as R.O.L.E.S:
Recognize your own personal triggers
Observe feelings and needs of the other
Label the emotional upset
Elect positive intent
Solve to find a win/win solution.
Indeed when we do understand these brain states and act accordingly, we may find a safe and connected outcome.
Purchase a poster of R.O.L.E.S. here
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