@Sparrow I got my cert initially because I was working as a Motorcycle Safety Foundation RiderCoach™® (Basically someone certified to teach people how to ride motorcycles safely ^^)! Having a first-aid and CPR certification was a CA requirement.

I've had to perform CPR before and my patient did not survive. I was not certified at the time and was running off of what I remembered from a course in highschool 8 years prior. That experience drove me to take this way more seriously.

@mawr

That sounds like an extremely traumatic experience. I'm so sorry you went through that. :( Most people are never put in a situation like that.

On the other hand, working as a motorcycle teacher sounds like an incredibly cool job. I keep forgetting you used to live in California. Too bad our timelines here didn't overlap!

@Sparrow I'm proud of the efforts I made, and even looking back at the situation I know there wasn't much more I could've done. He was suffering from anaphylaxis with no epi-pen available, and the swelling was bad enough that we couldn't get air to his lungs without a tracheal tube. The moment the paramedics arrived, that's what they used on him, but it was just too late.

Like most traumatic experiences, it served as an important life lesson that I've taken dearly to heart.

@Sparrow Working as a motorcycle coach is pretty fantastic, honestly-- though the hours are long and grueling, and the politics involved in coaching in CA were awful, but literally everything else about it was just fantastic and so very fulfilling. :D

I'm so bummed I only met you after I'd moved away!! You are so rad! ♥️

@mawr

That makes sense. Although my career of working in special education is suuuper different, it's just as steeped in CA politics & bureaucracy, so I can relate on that level.

Do you yourself have a motorcycle?

Awww thanks, you're super rad too! <3 Well I'll just have to make a point to say hi if I ever visit Washington. ^^

@Sparrow Totally. CA has so much red tape, you'd think it had a larger population than all of Canada! (...which it does. ^^;;;)

I have two motorcycles! :D An electric motorcycle (2013 Zero DS 12.5) and an Italian sport touring bike (2008 Moto Guzzi Norge 1200)! I included pics below- the orange one is at the 2016 SF Pride where I was a road captain with the Dykes on Bikes! :D

If you ever find your way up here, hit me up! I'd love to meet up for a coffee, chat and hug. ^^

@mawr

Those are beautiful bikes! How awesome. :D

And yes, I absolutely will. Idk if a trip like that will happen any time soon; I'm definitely too broke to travel for a while. But I've also been wanting to visit the Pacific Northwest for a few years now. I haven't seen Oregon or Washington at all.

@Sparrow Oh my goodness!!

If you do head up here and plan to drive, take a couple extra days and drive up via 101 along the coast.

The Avenue of the Giants (pic 1) in Northern CA is well worth your time-- it runs right along hwy 101 so you can hop on and off at your leisure!

Though... the Oregon coast (pic 2) is the shining jewel of the western US coastline. ♥️ Stop at "Griff's on the dock" in Port Orford, OR for an amazing experience and the best seafood you'll ever eat for under $20. :D

@mawr That makes sense. It sounds like you did the absolute best you could have done in the given situation, and sometimes it's just not possible to save a life.

I'm glad you were able to take a life lesson away from that situation. I considered mentioning that in my last response, but I personally get frustrated when someone outside of the situation puts an inspirational spin on my own trauma. It sounds preachy coming from the outside. So I didn't want to overstep there.

@Sparrow Yeah, trying to put a positive spin on a bad situation is kind of a gamble. It might make them feel better, or it might make them resent you. ^^;;;;;

The route you took on that front by the way was 👌​. Steer towards and validate someone's pain and they'll frequently find a way to spin it to the positive just out of the habits of cultural communication. That's one of the ways many crisis lines help people, too. ♥️

@mawr Yuppp. ^^;

That makes a lot of sense. Hmm, that's another line of training that I feel like could be useful in the broader "life skills" category. I had friends from college who worked at a suicide crisis line as their first "psychology job". I think a job like that would have been too emotionally overwhelming for me at the time, but looking back those are definitely skills I could use in my professional and often personal life.

@mawr

My current job through a school district offers a lot of free online trainings. One of them was for conflict deescalation, which is just such a widely useful skill.

@Sparrow YES YES YES YES!! I haven't had any formal training on that yet but just a few of the tips I've picked up from friends who have.... seriously useful stuff!! I wish they taught stuff like that in public school!

@Sparrow Yeah. I worked on the trans lifeline as an operator for a month during a particularly emotionally difficult time for me... which is why it was only a month. Hell, I started right before the current administration was elected. D:

I don't at all regret doing it- the things I learned from the experience could very well have helped me keep several close friends around. :x

@mawr *Nod* I understand. My former partner did a lot of unofficial crisis intervention for her friends last fall, around the time of the election.

We went together to the trans group at Davis the day after the election, actually, just to be around other humans in similar situations. The gender group is housed in the women's center, and down the hall there was a group for undocumented women. Everyone was crying. It was a scary time.