Communication
The Compassionate Communicator
Explore empathy and active listening in 911 communications, and the difference compassion can make for callers and telecommunicators.
View course detailsAPPRENTICE
Core learning offering · Platform experience evolvingTraining for the people behind every 911 call.
Build the knowledge behind confident dispatch. Explore online 911 training in communication, leadership, wellness, and more, with instruction shaped by public safety experience. Bring that learning into your team’s daily work.
- Build relevant knowledge
- Support a defined training plan
- Connect instruction to application
EXPLORE THE LEARNING
Courses for the calls.
And the career behind them.
Build communication skills, prepare your next supervisor, and make room for wellness. Here’s a selection from the Apprentice catalog.
Browse the full course catalogCommunication
How You Say It: Negotiation in Life and Work
Bring empathy, self-control, and active listening into difficult conversations at work and beyond the dispatch center.
View course detailsLeadership
From Dispatch to Supervisor: Making the Leap
Examine the transition from dispatcher to supervisor and the skills that help new leaders step into the role.
View course detailsLeadership
Communications Center Supervisor
Develop your approach to supervision through leadership styles, problem-solving, counseling strategies, and an introduction to relevant federal laws.
View course detailsWellness
Learning to Thrive in a High Stress Workplace
Explore resilience, readiness, and burnout, with a focus on sustaining engagement throughout a demanding career.
View course detailsWellness
Tactical Self Care Tools
Learn psychological skills and self-care approaches for the effects of stress, disrupted sleep, and trauma.
View course detailsThe catalog also includes orientation, technology, culture, and law, fire, and EMS topics. Course access and continuing education requirements depend on your agency and subscription.
Build your team’s learning planTHE PEOPLE BEHIND APPRENTICE
Leading voices.
Practical experience.
Learn from public safety educators and specialists who understand the demands of the work. Our instructors bring experience in dispatch, supervision, communication, and wellness to lessons that help people grow throughout their careers.
Four decades in public safety.
A career devoted to the people behind it.
LEADING OUR APPRENTICE LEARNING TEAM
Cherie Bartram
Cherie Bartram leads Equature’s Apprentice learning team, bringing four decades of public safety experience across four PSAPs in Colorado and Michigan. Her background includes serving as executive director of the South East Regional Emergency Services Authority (SERESA).
That combination of operational experience and agency leadership gives her a practical understanding of what new dispatchers need to learn, what experienced staff face, and what supervisors need from a training program. Her work as an author and podcast host brings that perspective into a wider conversation about developing the people behind public safety.
Communications center leadership
As SERESA’s executive director, Cherie shared the center’s approach to collaborative telecommunicator CPR training in a national 911.gov case study.
Read the training case studyAuthor of Recruit to Responder
Her book explores the knowledge and core competencies behind effective 911 telecommunication, supporting development from recruitment onward.
Explore the book announcementHost of Viewpoints by Equature
Cherie brings public safety professionals together for conversations about wellness, leadership, technology, and changes across the profession.
Listen to ViewpointsA voice for emergency communications
Appointed to the National EMS Advisory Council as the call taker/dispatcher representative, bringing the communications perspective to national discussions.
Read the appointment announcementBUILT AROUND THE WORK
Learning needs to connect to what people do.
Course activity is most useful when the trainer understands why it was assigned and how the learner will apply it. Equature’s direction brings learning closer to QA findings, simulation, and the performance conversation.
Support onboarding
Choose learning that helps new telecommunicators build the knowledge behind the skills they will practice.
Address an identified gap
Connect a learning activity to a specific development need from training, QA, or a performance conversation.
Plan continuing education
Review relevant learning options for current staff and define how the team will apply what they learn.
THE CAPABILITIES
Make the next step easier.
For training leaders organizing learning across new hires and existing staff.
Talk through your requirementsTelecommunicator learning
Review the current Apprentice course content for onboarding and continuing development. Match instruction to the knowledge your learners need.
An entry point in PSAP Central
Access Apprentice from within the portal according to your organization’s permissions and course access.
A defined place in your training plan
Pair relevant instruction with practice and trainer feedback. Discuss how learning records and the licensed SmartTRAC training tools fit your program.
A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE
Make an assignment more than a completion record.
A trainer identifies a knowledge gap and wants the learner to use new understanding in a practical situation.
Illustrative agency workflowFollow the broader processReview the current learning content and select instruction that fits the objective.
Explain why the activity matters and what the learner should be able to do afterward.
Discuss the learning and choose a relevant practice or follow-up observation.
THE QUESTION TO COME BACK TO
Can the learner explain the idea and apply it in a relevant example?
START WITH YOUR CENTER
Make your first step concrete.
Bring the people and requirements behind the work. We’ll use them to build a walkthrough around your agency.
Use the practical guideLearning requirements
Identify the roles, agency procedures, and objectives your training plan needs to cover.
Relevant content
Review the current course catalog, access options, and fit for the learner.
The follow-through
Define who reviews progress and how the activity connects with simulation or observation.
BEFORE YOUR NEXT STEP
Your questions, answered.
What courses can my team explore in Apprentice?
The catalog includes communication, leadership, wellness, technology, culture, law, fire, and EMS topics, plus telecommunicator orientation. Featured courses on this page are a starting point; browse the current catalog for the full selection and discuss course access with Equature.
Who teaches Equature’s training?
Apprentice brings together public safety educators and specialists with experience in dispatch, supervision, communication, and wellness. Cherie Bartram leads Equature’s Apprentice learning team, bringing decades of PSAP and agency leadership experience to the program. Instructors vary by course.
Is every course suitable for every agency?
Course relevance depends on your role requirements, local procedures, and training objectives. Review the current catalog and fit with Equature.
How does Apprentice relate to SmartSim?
Apprentice supports learning; SmartSim supports practice through simulation. A training plan can use both to address the same development objective.
Is the unified platform experience complete?
The PSAP Central experience is evolving. Ask the team to demonstrate the learning access and workflow connections available for your organization.
MAKE IT YOURS
See what this could look like in your center.
We’ll walk through the relevant tools, the available configuration, and a practical first step for your team.
Build your walkthrough