Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

Police work and in particular, death investigation,   is one of the most stressful jobs in this country. Day after day, investigators see the worst of humanity; absorb the world’s negativity, and come home to families who love them. How can you not expect this to have an effect on your mind, body, and soul? Not to mention the effect it has on your family, so ask yourself the question; is your job destroying your family? We need to recognize the warning signs of stress and how it can affect our lives and the lives of our family.  The biggest danger in law enforcement related stress is ignoring it! 

According to a 2002 study led by Rudy Arredondo, law enforcement children “can develop traumatic stress vicariously” through watching and listening to their parents experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This exposure can cause symptoms such as hyperarousal, intrusive thoughts, eating disorders and aggressive agitated behaviors. Children can even share the same memories or re-enact the LEO’s trauma by knowing that a traumatic event was experienced by the parent.

The research conducted on law enforcement marriage rates has mixed conclusions. Matthews (2011) indicates that some studies have law enforcement divorce rates as high as 75% while other studies indicate law enforcement divorce rates to be lower than the national average.

Tips for Strengthening a Law Enforcement Marriage:  

1. Leave the stress of the job, at the job. Learn to switch gears and pay attention to your spouse when you walk in the front door at home.
2. Become an active listener to your spouse’s needs.
3. Avoid the law enforcement culture and do not accept that the workaholic lifestyle is acceptable to your spouse. It is not healthy for a marriage to spend limited time together.
4. Emotional detachment is needed for the job, but learn to turn it off at home.
5. Make a Planned Date Night around your work schedule… and do it often!
6. Do not allow “Partner Envy” or a feeling of competition for your time to enter your home.
7. Be spontaneous, let your spouse know you care and think about him/her often.
8. Keep your civilian friends (not everything needs to be cop, cop, and cop).
9. Share the workload around the house and partner with your partner (hint-hint)
10. Seek the help of a marriage counselor or help with PTSD if needed.

Tips from an article written by Mark Bond- for full article click here:   Married to the Badge

Police officers have one of the highest suicide rates in the nation, possibly the highest. They have a high divorce rate, about second in the nation. They are problem drinkers about twice as often as the general population. These facts are warning signals for unseen problems that are not being handled.

Researchers use suicide, divorce and alcoholism rates as three key indexes of stress in a group of people. Clearly, police work is stressful. Hans Selye, the foremost researcher in stress in the world, said that police work is “the most stressful occupation in America even surpassing the formidable stresses of air traffic control.”

We need to recognize the warning signs of stress and how it can affect our lives and the lives of our families.  The biggest danger in law enforcement related stress is ignoring it.

Police stress is not always unique nor obvious. Almost any single stressor in police work can be found in another occupation. What is unique is all the different stressors in one job. Many people see the dangers of acute stressors such as post-shooting trauma and have programs dealing with them. These stressors are easy to see because of the intense emotional strain a person suffers. But what about the not so obvious, chronic stressors; are they important?

Chronic stress has at least two effects on people. First, prolonged stress causes people to regress. Their psychological growth reverses, and they become more immature. They rapidly become more childish and primitive. A common example is a sick person who is miserable and in pain for several days. Any wife will agree that her husband becomes self-centered, whiny and irritable; he expects constant attention and care. He behaves like a young, selfish child. People naturally regress during chronic discomfort.

Second, chronic stress numbs people’s sensitivity. They can’t stand to continually see human misery. They must stop feeling or they won’t survive. The mind has this defense mechanism so people can continue working in horrible situations. If they kept their normal sensitivity, they would fall apart. As they become insensitive to their own suffering, they become insensitive to the suffering of others. When treated with indignity they lose not only a sense of their own dignity but also the dignity of others. The pain of others stops bothering them, and they are no longer bothered when they hurt others.

Police officers and death investigators encounter stressors in call after call which saps their strength. Debilitation from this daily stress accumulates making officers more vulnerable to traumatic incidents and normal pressures of life. The weakening process is often too slow to see; neither a person nor his friends are aware of the damage being done.

anitabrooks.com 

Anita Brooks motivates others to dynamic break-throughs. Blending mind, heart, body, and spirit, as an Inspirational Business/Life Coach, International Speaker, and Common Trauma Expert.

Anita is also an award-winning author. Her titles include Amazon bestseller: Getting Through What You Can’t Get Over, Barbour Publishing, First Hired, Last Fired — How to Become Irreplaceable in Any Job Market, Leafwood Publishing,Death Defied-Life Defined: A Miracle Man’s Memoir, and contributor to The Change: Insights Into Self Empowerment Book #4. Her books are available at major and independent bookstores, Amazon, plus several online retailers.

Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, Police, and Forensic students. This hybrid course looks at death investigation from a combined perspective of law enforcement and medicolegal death investigations.

MLDI online Academy is a Nationally Accredited online training designed to teach all aspects of death investigation and scene management. Unlike any other coroner training today,  this course offers a blended learning style combining online self-paced video training, along with opportunities for live interaction with instructors several times throughout the program, and a unique private Facebook group open only to students of Coroner School™ where everyone can interact and ask questions.

MLDI online Academy is a six-week guided course with certified instructors. However, at the end of the six weeks, you still have access to all videos, downloadable material, and the private Facebook group. You can return to the online school anytime to finish up the courses or as a refresher in certain topic areas.

This exclusive first of its kind Medicolegal Death Investigation (MLDI) kit contains all the items you need to document and collect evidence from the most important piece of evidence at any death scene – The Body. Designed for Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, and anyone responsible to investigate and process a death.

This kit is equipped to collect fragile evidence such as DNA and fibers, take post-mortem temperatures, document the scene through photography and sketching, as well as properly collect transport, and store material evidence.

This MLDI Kit can be used in large agencies for multiple MDI’s or one single kit for smaller agencies. Packaged in a sturdy Pelican carry case with custom dividers and a pocketed pouch system. Built strong to withstand the demands from scene to scene.

The Death Investigation Training Academy was founded to play an integral role in the death investigation community.  The need for quality accredited training is in short supply and high demand. Using a combination of classroom training, live on site scenario exercises,  and web-based training, the Death Investigation Training Academy is filling the need of 21st-century investigators.

One thing you can count on in life is the fact that you are going to die. How’s that for a buzzkill? Most people diligently ignore the reality of their future demise. Thinking about death somehow seems wrong. Luckily, a real-life coroner challenged a few thousand internet strangers to do the thinking for you.

The result is a collection of morbid and slightly embarrassing questions all about The End. Honest, and often hilarious, answers from a woman who has made a career out of death will leave you with a new perspective on life.

This is a meaningful and sincere book with a lighthearted, funny feel. Truly something only a coroner could write. In addition to answering all of your (umm, rather interesting) questions about death, we have laid out all of the options available to you when you die as well as a comprehensive list of key information to help your loved ones (and coroner!) handle your passing. This book is the perfect place to begin thinking about death, and life, in an entirely new way.

It all starts with this book! Spoiler Alert: You’re Gonna Die is a collection of questions provided by thousands of people just like you, and answers from our favorite coroner, Jacquie.

Jacquie Purcell is a Deputy Coroner from Yorkville, Illinois, with over 20 years of experience (and an abundance of fancy titles) in the death industry, ranging from funeral service to death investigations. In addition to being a national board certified Funeral Director and Embalmer, Jacquie is a Diplomate of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators. Korttany Finn is from Camano Island, Washington. With a unique flair for shaping stories, she helped bring this book about death, to life. It is their combined hope that this book will help people to think about death in an entirely new (and important) way. Death happens and we need to be talking about it as well as preparing. If the conversation starts with all the intriguing or funny aspects, well, all the better!

Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, Police, and Forensic students. This hybrid course looks at death investigation from a combined perspective of law enforcement and medicolegal death investigations.

MLDI online Academy is a Nationally Accredited online training designed to teach all aspects of death investigation and scene management. Unlike any other coroner training today,  this course offers a blended learning style combining online self-paced video training, along with opportunities for live interaction with instructors several times throughout the program, and a unique private Facebook group open only to students of Coroner School™ where everyone can interact and ask questions.

MLDI online Academy is a six-week guided course with certified instructors. However, at the end of the six weeks, you still have access to all videos, downloadable material, and the private Facebook group. You can return to the online school anytime to finish up the courses or as a refresher in certain topic areas.

This exclusive first of its kind Medicolegal Death Investigation (MLDI) kit contains all the items you need to document and collect evidence from the most important piece of evidence at any death scene – The Body. Designed for Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, and anyone responsible to investigate and process a death.

This kit is equipped to collect fragile evidence such as DNA and fibers, take post-mortem temperatures, document the scene through photography and sketching, as well as properly collect transport, and store material evidence.

This MLDI Kit can be used in large agencies for multiple MDI’s or one single kit for smaller agencies. Packaged in a sturdy Pelican carry case with custom dividers and a pocketed pouch system. Built strong to withstand the demands from scene to scene.

The Death Investigation Training Academy was founded to play an integral role in the death investigation community.  The need for quality accredited training is in short supply and high demand. Using a combination of classroom training, live on site scenario exercises,  and web-based training, the Death Investigation Training Academy is filling the need of 21st-century investigators.

TOTAL EM is an educational website.  It stands for "Tools Of the Trade and Academic Learning in Emergency Medicine."  The main focus is to provide training to all of those in emergency medicine, especially those practicing in a rural or remote setting and those who are PAs (but we also love our NP and physician colleagues).   They believe in the importance of education.  Their website is divided into three main sections.  One is devoted to medical professionals and the information offered directly by the TOTAL EM project.  A second section is devoted to layperson education in emergency medicine which covers mostly basic topics.  The final section is an access to multiple projects that we support and use frequently.  

TOTAL EM is a project devoted to increasing emergency medicine knowledge both to providers and the public.  As demonstrated with previous studies, it can take too long for information to reach the bedside.  The Leaky Pipe model has been suggested as reasons why this happens.   They want to do our part to help shorten the period of time it takes for important medical knowledge in emergency medicine to reach the provider and the patient.  They also want to help educate people across the world in how emergency medicine is an important and lifesaving profession. Total EM's  goal is to provide regularly updated information through the method of FOAMED or Free and Open Access to Medical EDucation.  The plan is to do this with blogs and podcasts.  With your help, we plan to accomplish just that. TOTAL EM is an educational website.  It stands for "Tools Of the Trade and Academic Learning in Emergency Medicine."  The main focus is to provide training to all of those in emergency medicine, especially those practicing in a rural or remote setting and those who are PAs (but we also love our NP and physician colleagues).  

Training Links discussed on the show:

eLearning

Classroom 

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Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, Police, and Forensic students. This hybrid course looks at death investigation from a combined perspective of law enforcement and medicolegal death investigations.

MLDI online Academy is a Nationally Accredited online training designed to teach all aspects of death investigation and scene management. Unlike any other coroner training today,  this course offers a blended learning style combining online self-paced video training, along with opportunities for live interaction with instructors several times throughout the program, and a unique private Facebook group open only to students of Coroner School™ where everyone can interact and ask questions.

MLDI online Academy is a six-week guided course with certified instructors. However, at the end of the six weeks, you still have access to all videos, downloadable material, and the private Facebook group. You can return to the online school anytime to finish up the courses or as a refresher in certain topic areas.

This exclusive first of its kind Medicolegal Death Investigation (MLDI) kit contains all the items you need to document and collect evidence from the most important piece of evidence at any death scene – The Body. Designed for Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, and anyone responsible to investigate and process a death.

This kit is equipped to collect fragile evidence such as DNA and fibers, take post-mortem temperatures, document the scene through photography and sketching, as well as properly collect transport, and store material evidence.

This MLDI Kit can be used in large agencies for multiple MDI’s or one single kit for smaller agencies. Packaged in a sturdy Pelican carry case with custom dividers and a pocketed pouch system. Built strong to withstand the demands from scene to scene.

The Death Investigation Training Academy was founded to play an integral role in the death investigation community.  The need for quality accredited training is in short supply and high demand. Using a combination of classroom training, live on site scenario exercises,  and web-based training, the Death Investigation Training Academy is filling the need of 21st-century investigators.

On December 29, 1999, high school friends Lauria Jaylene Bible and Ashley Renae Freeman spent the evening together celebrating Freeman's sixteenth birthday. Bible received permission from her parents to spend the night at Freeman's home. Earlier that day, the girls had spent time at a local pizza restaurant with Kathy Freeman.

At approximately 5:30 am on December 30, 1999, a passerby called 911 reporting that the Freeman home was engulfed in flames. Law enforcement determined the fire had been an arson. Inside the home, the charred remains of Kathy Freeman were discovered lying on the floor of her bedroom; she had been shot in the head. Initially, no other remains were relocated, leading local law enforcement to believe Dan Freeman had killed his wife and fled with both teenage girls. Lauria's parked car was in the driveway of the home with the keys in the ignition.

On December 31, Lauria's parents Lorene and Jay Bible returned to the scene, hoping to find additional clues law enforcement may have missed. While walking through the rubble, they discovered what appeared to be another body, and called police. The second body was determined to be that of Dan Freeman, Ashley's father; like his wife, he had also been shot in the head. After this discovery, the scene was reexamined, but no sign of Lauria Bible or Ashley Freeman was found

In this episode, I talk with Jax Miller and Sarah Cailean as to their involvement in this ongoing investigation and how Jax, as a true crime writer, and Sarah, as a police investigator, team up to uncover new clues and sparked the attention of Law Enforcement which moves this case forward.

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Death Investigator Magazine    Subscribe Here

Coroner and Medical Examiner Offices play an important role in the organ and tissue donation process. Since all unexpected deaths require Coroner or Medical Examiner review, their cooperation and support is vital for ensuring successful organ and tissue donations, benefiting thousands of transplant recipients each year.

In the United States, an organ procurement organization (OPO) is a non-profit organization that is responsible for the evaluation and procurement of deceased-donor organs for organ transplantation. There are 58 such organizations in the United States, each responsible for organ procurement in a specific region, and each a member of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), a federally mandated network created by and overseen by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).

The individual OPOs represent the front-line of organ procurement, having direct contact with the hospital and the family of the recently deceased donor. Once the OPO receives the consent of the decedent's family, it works with UNOS to identify the best candidates for the available organs and coordinates with the surgical team for each organ recipient.

OPOs are also charged with educating the public to increase awareness of and participation in the organ donation process.

In this episode, I talk with Midwest Transplant Network about the need the C/ME system to work closely together and what that can mean to the people needing a donation.   We discuss what types of donation can be made and what most OPO's are wanting to see from the C/ME network across the country.

Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, Police, and Forensic students. This hybrid course looks at death investigation from a combined perspective of law enforcement and medicolegal death investigations.

MLDI online Academy is a Nationally Accredited online training designed to teach all aspects of death investigation and scene management. Unlike any other coroner training today,  this course offers a blended learning style combining online self-paced video training, along with opportunities for live interaction with instructors several times throughout the program, and a unique private Facebook group open only to students of Coroner School™ where everyone can interact and ask questions.

MLDI online Academy is a six-week guided course with certified instructors. However, at the end of the six weeks, you still have access to all videos, downloadable material, and the private Facebook group. You can return to the online school anytime to finish up the courses or as a refresher in certain topic areas.

This exclusive first of its kind Medicolegal Death Investigation (MLDI) kit contains all the items you need to document and collect evidence from the most important piece of evidence at any death scene – The Body. Designed for Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, and anyone responsible to investigate and process a death.

This kit is equipped to collect fragile evidence such as DNA and fibers, take post-mortem temperatures, document the scene through photography and sketching, as well as properly collect transport, and store material evidence.

This MLDI Kit can be used in large agencies for multiple MDI’s or one single kit for smaller agencies. Packaged in a sturdy Pelican carry case with custom dividers and a pocketed pouch system. Built strong to withstand the demands from scene to scene.

The Death Investigation Training Academy was founded to play an integral role in the death investigation community.  The need for quality accredited training is in short supply and high demand. Using a combination of classroom training, live on site scenario exercises,  and web-based training, the Death Investigation Training Academy is filling the need of 21st-century investigators.

A prevalent concern, but under-recognized, a public health problem of distressing and harmful resident-to-resident interactions in dementia in long-term care homes (LTC) (such as nursing homes and assisted living residences), is a major issue facing many countries today.  This increase can, in part, be attributed to the growing population of older adults from the Baby Boom generation. These resident-to-resident incidents frequently lead to injurious and fatal consequences for vulnerable and frail elder residents.

For various reasons, these incidents are often underreported inside and outside the LTC home (such as to the Department of Health/state regulatory agency, police, and Coroners/Medical Examiners). Death investigators should play a critical role in timely and skilled investigations of these incidents. However, serious gaps in resources and training are a major barrier to change as they are the reality for many Coroner and Medical Examiner Offices and Law Enforcement Departments in the U.S. and abroad.

Improved communication and timely collaboration between external agencies is essential to addressing this phenomenon more effectively. A timely and skilled investigation can assist tremendously in determining the cause of death (which is critically important to family members of the deceased) and can also inform policy, legislation, systemic efforts, and training programs aimed at preventing similar tragic incidents in the future.

Death of Elders Due to Resident-to-Resident Incidents research findings poster.

Download your copy HERE 

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Eilon Caspi, Ph.D., is a Gerontologist and Dementia Behavior Specialist. He started working in the aging field in 1994 as a nurse aide in a nursing home where his grandfather lived. Both of his grandmothers had dementia. He later worked as a social worker with elders with low income at the Department of Social Services for Elders, Tel Aviv Municipality, and then at a long-term care home for elders with dementia in the city of Jaffa. His work applied research, volunteering, and advocacy focuses on enhancing the quality of care, quality of life, and safety of people living with dementia as well as supporting and educating their family and professional care partners. His passion is in bridging between academia/research and practice.

Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, Police, and Forensic students. This hybrid course looks at death investigation from a combined perspective of law enforcement and medicolegal death investigations.

MLDI online Academy is a Nationally Accredited online training designed to teach all aspects of death investigation and scene management. Unlike any other coroner training today,  this course offers a blended learning style combining online self-paced video training, along with opportunities for live interaction with instructors several times throughout the program, and a unique private Facebook group open only to students of Coroner School™ where everyone can interact and ask questions.

MLDI online Academy is a six-week guided course with certified instructors. However, at the end of the six weeks, you still have access to all videos, downloadable material, and the private Facebook group. You can return to the online school anytime to finish up the courses or as a refresher in certain topic areas.

This exclusive first of its kind Medicolegal Death Investigation (MLDI) kit contains all the items you need to document and collect evidence from the most important piece of evidence at any death scene – The Body. Designed for Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, and anyone responsible to investigate and process a death.

This kit is equipped to collect fragile evidence such as DNA and fibers, take post-mortem temperatures, document the scene through photography and sketching, as well as properly collect transport, and store material evidence.

This MLDI Kit can be used in large agencies for multiple MDI’s or one single kit for smaller agencies. Packaged in a sturdy Pelican carry case with custom dividers and a pocketed pouch system. Built strong to withstand the demands from scene to scene.

The Death Investigation Training Academy was founded to play an integral role in the death investigation community.  The need for quality accredited training is in short supply and high demand. Using a combination of classroom training, live on site scenario exercises,  and web-based training, the Death Investigation Training Academy is filling the need of 21st-century investigators.

The act of killing one’s child is unthinkable for any parent, but owing to long-standing cultural, emotional and biological factors, a mother who kills her offspring has the power to inspire special shock and revulsion. Such a mother is seen as someone who is not only guilty of a crime but has violated a law of nature and rebelled against instinct.

But the motives behind maternal filicide, as it is known, are much more complex, even counterintuitive — and troubling, even for those professionals who have devoted their careers to trying to understand them.  Read More on Website Show Notes:  

A forensic scientist specializing in investigative psychology and crime scene investigation. Diversified experience as an investigator, interviewer, instructor, expert witness, and an analyst. Currently conducting research in the transference of psycholinguistic cues to handwriting during deception. The current quantitative method unites psychological and physical evidence for more concise investigative leads, with expected applications for criminal interrogations and loss prevention interviews.

http://mindsleuth.net/ 

Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, Police, and Forensic students. This hybrid course looks at death investigation from a combined perspective of law enforcement and medicolegal death investigations.

MLDI online Academy is a Nationally Accredited online training designed to teach all aspects of death investigation and scene management. Unlike any other coroner training today,  this course offers a blended learning style combining online self-paced video training, along with opportunities for live interaction with instructors several times throughout the program, and a unique private Facebook group open only to students of Coroner School™ where everyone can interact and ask questions.

MLDI online Academy is a six-week guided course with certified instructors. However, at the end of the six weeks, you still have access to all videos, downloadable material, and the private Facebook group. You can return to the online school anytime to finish up the courses or as a refresher in certain topic areas.

Filicide is the deliberate act of a parent killing their own child. The word filicide derives from the Latin words filius meaning "son" or filia meaning daughter, and the suffix -cide meaning to kill, murder, or cause death.

"Filicide" may refer both to the parent who killed his or her child, as well as to the criminal act that the parent committed.

In this episode, I share a conversation I had with  Ron Martinelli Ph.D on his radio show A Thread of Evidence. In the conversation, I detail three cases where mothers killed their children and how the investigation was conducted and the truth was revealed.

Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, Police, and Forensic students. This hybrid course looks at death investigation from a combined perspective of law enforcement and medicolegal death investigations.

MLDI online Academy is a Nationally Accredited online training designed to teach all aspects of death investigation and scene management. Unlike any other coroner training today,  this course offers a blended learning style combining online self-paced video training, along with opportunities for live interaction with instructors several times throughout the program, and a unique private Facebook group open only to students of Coroner School? where everyone can interact and ask questions.

MLDI online Academy is a six-week guided course with certified instructors. However, at the end of the six weeks, you still have access to all videos, downloadable material, and the private Facebook group. You can return to the online school anytime to finish up the courses or as a refresher in certain topic areas.

This exclusive first of its kind Medicolegal Death Investigation (MLDI) kit contains all the items you need to document and collect evidence from the most important piece of evidence at any death scene? The Body. Designed for Coroners, Medical Examiner Investigators, and anyone responsible to investigate and process a death.

This kit is equipped to collect fragile evidence such as DNA and fibers, take post-mortem temperatures, document the scene through photography and sketching, as well as properly collect transport, and store material evidence.

This MLDI Kit can be used in large agencies for multiple MDI's or one single kit for smaller agencies. Packaged in a sturdy Pelican carry case with custom dividers and a pocketed pouch system. Built strong to withstand the demands from scene to scene.

The Death Investigation Training Academy was founded to play an integral role in the death investigation community. The need for quality accredited training is in short supply and high demand. Using a combination of classroom training, live on site scenario exercises, and web-based training, the Death Investigation Training Academy is filling the need of 21st-century investigators.

Medicolegal / Death Investigation can provide a contextual view of the empirical evidence in both death and non-death cases. We have found that the use of a full medicolegal / death investigation is underutilized - from the investigator to the forensic pathologist.

Associates in Forensic Investigations specialize in the expert medicolegal consultation and legal investigation of cases involving persons with traumatic injuries or death, as well as cases involving serious criminal charges. Whether you facing serious criminal charges, have been victimized by a traumatic event, are a family member of a victim or decedent, or a law firm representing a victim or family - their agency has the experience and subject matter expertise to assist with civil, criminal and probate cases involving personal injury, negligence, and death. As an expert component, full investigative services, or both.

Their team and affiliated experts include Forensic Investigators, a Forensic Pathologist, and a Forensic Toxicologist, with experts in related fields available as needed. Everything from a document, report and photograph reviews to scene investigation, and autopsy reviews and both second and private autopsies. We are your unique private sector medicolegal investigation agency.

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No matter what anyone else says, no matter what we tell ourselves, trying to leave our personal problems at the door just doesn’t work. They follow us inside. Every. Single. Time.

Whether we want to leave work problems at the job site, or problems at home inside our four walls, we can’t escape the things niggling at our minds. We get it. Both of us, Darren and Anita, know what it’s like to juggle deadlines and private crisis. Who of us hasn’t battled one or more of the following? Financial hardship, broken relationships, worry over family members, concern for friends, deadline pressures, someone upset with us, unexpected health crisis, a death of someone we love, or any other difficult news.

You are not alone in dealing with big problems while trying not to fall behind. We’ve been there, and though we don’t have all the answers, we offer compassion, encouragement, and hope, in our efforts to help you accomplish all you are meant to do.

Problems Versus Productivity Analysis:

1. Make sure you have a clear understanding of the true problem. We often lose volumes of time and energy barking up the wrong tree. Go directly to those you are in a conflict with, (not to others), and with listening ears, seek to make sure you understand the heart of the real problem. Often, we discover what we believed to be true was not the case at all. An open mind, and willing spirit often resolve a problem with no more effort than taking the courage to go directly to the source.
2. Get intentional about separating facts from your emotions. Take a pen and paper, or use a computer program, to make two lists. On one, list every specific fact you have regarding the situation. A fact is verifiable, specific, and supportable through documentation, recorded footage, unbiased witnesses, etc. Now do the same with your feelings. This may get uncomfortable but facing your emotions with truth and clarity is a real key to solving problems. Compare the lists and see how much of what you perceive is based on fact, and how much is based on feeling. This will enable you to release imagined and inflated issues, freeing you to make informed decisions and move back into a productive swing.
3. Don’t run too far and too fast ahead of yourself. In our efforts to tackle problems, and move past them as quickly as possible, we sometimes rush to a quick-fix solution. However, an immediate decision may actually prolong your attempts to find a true resolution. Don’t get us wrong, this doesn’t mean analyzing something to death, but it does mean slowing down enough to evaluate the facts, and asking others to give you a precise amount of time to process your thoughts clearly. If possible, give yourself twenty-four hours after coming to a conclusion, before taking action.
4. Compare your pros and cons. Most of us have heard this before. But how many of us take the time to actually compare lists of pros and cons? There’s something powerful about visualizing things to help us see things from a different angle. This kind of exercise can provide just the creative leap we need, moving us from problem paralysis to productive progress.
5. Make a decision and stand by it. Untold hours are lost to questioning ourselves once a decision is made.

Sponsor Link

Medicolegal Death Investigation Scene Kit. 

coronertalk.com/mldikit 

This kit is equipped to collect fragile evidence such as DNA and fibers, take post-mortem temperatures, document the scene through photography and sketching, as well as properly collect transport, and store material evidence.

This MLDI Kit can be used in large agencies for multiple MDI’s or one single kit for smaller agencies. Packaged in a sturdy Pelican carry case with custom dividers and a pocketed pouch system. Built strong to withstand the demands from scene to scene.