Welcome to the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno CERT    Training and Information Page

With proper training and education, volunteers expand the resources available to local communities. Below are training opportunities for CERT and your CERT neighborhoods.

The Bay Area Urban Areas Security Initiative's Bay Area Training and Exercise Program would like to inform you the following course:

Title:
Psychological First Aid - A 4 Module Course (04/27/2021-05/18/2021)

Dates:
Tuesdays - April 27th, May 4th, May 11th, and May 18th, 2021
1:30 PM to 3:00 PM (Each Day)
Description:
Between the extensive wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all endured – and continue to cope with - unprecedented stresses. It’s easy to feel burned out and overwhelmed. The BATEP has worked with Elizabeth McMahon, PhD, to offer a series of 4 webinars on Psychological First Aid (PFA) Skills that complement and expand on PFA trainings from the American Red Cross, FEMA, and SAMHSA. You will leave each webinar with specific, concrete, practical skills to use immediately during crises and in daily life. The instructor, Elizabeth McMahon, PhD, and the material presented have received rave reviews from previous participants. Learn skills that can help you to help others.

This is single course broken into four modules and presented over multiple days to enable those with hectic full schedules to attend, participate in and complete the four modules. Participants will register for the course and are expected to attend and participate in each of the four modules.
Topics Include:
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Module 1: Coping with Stress - Coping with Stress is the first in a series of four 90-minute psychological first aid modules for healthcare workers, emergency responders, lay volunteers, and others who may help people during disasters or other traumatic, stressful situations. The skills taught are also useful in dealing with daily life and work stresses. Coping with Stress reviews common causes and effects of stress. You will learn and practice three specific skills for reducing the impact of stress. You will identify your personal stress signals and identify skills that work for you. Signs of problematic stress reactions will be described along with additional resources. Coping with Stress teaches skills that are the foundation for the other 3 modules. Each module can be taken alone, but the skills build upon each other consecutively.

Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Module 2: Making Fast Connections: - Making Fast Connections is the 2nd of four 90-minute class modules for healthcare workers, emergency responders, lay volunteers, and others who may help people during disasters or other traumatic, stressful situations. Module 2 builds on the stress coping skills of Module 1 and focuses on communicating effectively with others who may be severely stressed, including survivors of disaster. You will learn specific ways to present yourself as calm, caring, and competent along with specific skills for quickly creating a connection and increasing compliance with instructions. A personalized worksheet will help you identify and practice self-talk to counter negative emotions commonly triggered by working in stressful situations.

Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Module 3: Handling Difficult Reactions - Handling Difficult Reactions is 3rd of four 90-minute class modules for healthcare workers, emergency responders, lay volunteers, and others who may help people during disasters or other traumatic, stressful situations. Building on the skills taught in Modules 1 (Coping with Stress) and 2 (Making Fast Connections), Module 3 focuses on how to respond when others show any of five common difficult reactions. You will learn specific skills for interacting with someone who is temporarily overwhelmed, someone who is crying and grieving, someone who is worried, someone who is panicking, and someone who is angry, rude, or demanding. In addition, you will learn and practice a powerful and effective techniques that will help you prepare for difficult situations while increasing your effectiveness and resilience.

Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Module 4: Avoiding Personal Burnout - Avoiding Personal Burnout is the 4th of four 90-minute class modules for healthcare workers, emergency responders, lay volunteers, and others who may help people during disasters or other traumatic, stressful situations. Burnout is a risk for anyone working under stressful circumstances. Building on the skills taught earlier, this module focuses on specific, practical skills designed to help you avoid personal burnout. You will learn several ways to decrease the impact of ongoing stresses and reduce the negatives in your life. In addition, you will learn 5 techniques for increasing positive emotions, hope, emotional stress, support, and resilience. At the conclusion of this module, you will make a personal plan with specific actions.

Prerequisites:
None. Target Audience: Medical and Health, Law, Fire, EMS responders, and those that may be called to help a person in crisis. For more information on this course, please contact Bryan Hanley at bhanley@batep.org

Registration:
To register for this course, visit https://www.batep.org. If you do not have a user account, click the "Create Account" tab on the main page and complete the registration form. After you create your account, your account information will be reviewed by the Regional Training & Exercise staff. Once your account has been reviewed and approved, you will be able to login and access the website.

CERT Skill Refresher Training Opportunities

Santa Clara County Fire Department is offering online CERT Refresher Training for all CERT members.

SCC CERT Refresher Flyer

Emergency Volunteer Center Training

During a disaster or other emergency, The Town may activate it's Emergency Volunteer Center (EVC) to provide a way for community members to help out and to manage volunteer efforts.

 When a disaster or emergency strikes, the Los Gatos and Monte Sereno Communities step up looking for ways to help. The Emergency Volunteer Center (EVC) is a program we use to coordinate spontaneous volunteers. Community members who sign up during a disaster are letting us know that they are ready and willing to help.

To run a successful Emergency Volunteer Center (EVC) we need community members who are pre-trained to staff the center. 

EVC training is available via the 4 modules listed below:

EVC Module 1, Introduction to EVCs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTplqd9Ers8

EVC Module 2, Basic Operations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAScahqU7fk

 EVC Module 3, EVC Management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjowCEcq3l8

 EVC Module 4, Working Together with Spontaneous Volunteers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmH0OQ1D6vQ

Incident Command System Training

We recommend that all CERT members learn about the Incident Command System (ICS) and NIMS. FEMA offers web-based training, so that you can complete the courses at your convenience:

IS-100.C: Introduction to Incident Command System, ICS-100
IS-200.B: ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
IS-700.B: National Incident Management System (NIMS) An Introduction
IS-800.D: National Response Framework An Introduction

CERT Volunteer Hours

In the event of a disaster, our community needs to ensure that our CERT's are trained and ready to help with the immediate needs of first responders and our community. To aid in evaluating future training opportunities, classes, activities, and to build greater support of Town members, it will be very helpful to know where our current efforts are being placed and how many hours of community service our CERT's are devoting to their own emergency preparedness and to the resilience of our CERT program and our overall Town.

 The Volunteer Hours Submission form will give you an easy way to provide information on the volunteer hours that you and each CERT member have participated in towards the CERT program. 

This simple 10-question form should take less than 5 minutes to complete each month. Upon completion of a CERT-related activity, please use the submission form as needed to log your volunteer time.

Volunteer Hours Submission Form

CERT Members Access Page

Welcome to the CERT members page. We have over 200 trained volunteers, reporting to eight command posts within our community.

Active CERT Members may follow the link below to access training information, forms and NICP information for the Los Gatos and Monte Sereno communities.

CERT Members Page