Three months ago roughly I walked into the grounds of a new organisation, had an ID card made, and met a whole bunch of new people. After 12 weeks of training and testing I was told I had met the grade and had completed the basic training to start doing a role I have only dreamed of for decades. Then there was a ceremony, an official recognition of the efforts of myself and my training cohort, and we were given some epaulettes and handed over to “the floor”.

Since then I have done three tours, and experienced so much I had not seen in training. Not to say I was not expecting some surprises, and to be forever learning, of course I was. However I was definitely surprised at a few of them, but have chalked it all down to experience, and tucked each one neatly under my belt to refer back to when the time arises.

I am not going to pretend that it has all been plain sailing. There have been plenty of WTF moment, and deer in the headlights too. However for the majority of the time I have definitely felt well prepared, and more importantly 100% supported by my watch. I keep saying it to other people, but I really do feel I landed on my feet here, and already feel at home.

I am not even a month into doing the role, and am still sitting with a baby-sitter most of the time. Which has its pros and cons of course. While I feel pretty confident in my processes and decisions, I also feel like I need to validate myself on some things, so that adds to the mental load from time to time. On the flip side of course, there are also moments when I turn to them with a shocked look on my face, looking for guidance.

The beautiful thing about this job is even long after the baby-sitter is gone, there is always someone right next to you. Usually they are actually right there, however there is ALWAYS someone there figuratively and just a hand wave away. This is really important at times, and even the most experienced in the room rely on this system from time to time when something big comes up.

I was asked after a recent blog entry if I could go into more detail on some of the things I deal with. For obvious reasons I can’t discuss any incidents or persons involved, but what I would say is what we were told in training is 100% true.

Every day will be different, you will constantly hear news things, see new situations and be surprised by the types of incidents you will be asked to deal with.  These are generally people having their worst day, and looking for you to offer them some assistance or even just advice on what they need to do to make things better.

People from all walks of life will contact us, and depending on their personality, mental state, and situations they are in, they will all behave very differently . Sometimes it will be predictable, other times it will make no sense to behave the way they are in the situation they are in.  Extremely calm in terrible situations, and very emotional and distressed in quite simple situations. Whatever the case, whoever they are, they will be treated equally, and offered the same help and advice.

From apologetic for “bothering” you whilst they are in a precarious situation, to rude and demanding in a self made situation, which you may or may not think is something we should be dealing with, they come in all shapes and sizes.

I have seen quite a wide spread of the above already, but know I am only scraping the surface and over the years will see much much more. All I can do is practise my skills, and hope that it prepares me for the day when my experience and personality are put to the test. The great part is I am learning from a great bunch of people, and am surrounded by support, so I have every confidence that I will continue to grow as a person and also in my capacity as one of the team.

I am now on my rest days between tours, and taking a bit of time to deal with everything I have experienced, and get myself fresh enough for the next tour. I look forward to it each time, but also have a hint of trepidation, which I guess is only natural. While I have been there a while now, I still very much feel like the new kid, and am still learning the unspoken processes, and making sure I do things as one of the team and not an individual. As I said, I am yet to go it alone for a full tour, so take comfort in that. But I also look forward to walking onto the floor with total confidence, and knowing I am going it alone.

Right, I am off to write some more entries on blogs, so will thank you for reading and bid you farewell for now.