Emergency Services Response Team Training
The 2025 Emergency Services Response Team (ESRT) training took place from 17 to 20 March at Booth College of Mission (BCM), hosted by the Centre for Leadership Development. The training was facilitated by Major Deane Goldsack, territorial coordinator of Salvation Army Emergency Services, with Wendy Lobb from Supporter Engagement and Fundraising, who is a trained psychologist and has extensive experience supporting people in traumatic situations.
Twenty-one people attended the training from across the territory, including officers from Fiji Division and Tonga Region; notably, Lieutenant Karen Krishnan, manager for Suva Family Care Centre and advocate for women, the first female to attend ESRT training from the Pacific Islands. Other attendees were officers and staff from around New Zealand.
The first two days of training were led by Deane, Wendy and some of the New Zealand-based Emergency Services Coordinators (ESCs). The training focused on Psychological First Aid which resulted in certification for attendees at the end of the training. A session gave trainees the opportunity to practise responses using psychological first aid in an emergency setting.
The third day had an international focus based around The Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response. This gave trainees the framework for international emergency responses, particularly since some may be required to work with aid agencies in an international setting.
Highlights of the course included a session led by Major Bindi Lucas, the national response manager for Emergency Services in Australia, who gave an insightful presentation on the emergency landscape in Australia, stating the territory attends an emergency somewhere in Australia every day of the year. Presentations were also given by Lieutenant Peter Otainao, corps officer at Kolovai Corps Plant, who talked about the effects of the Tonga volcanic eruption and tsunami and the impacts on Tonga, and Major Salesi Temo, corps officer of Lautoka Corps and ESC for Fiji, who gave the Fijian response to severe weather events that have impacted Fiji.
The Salvation Army’s commitment to emergency response is written into the New Zealand Government’s National Emergency Management Plan. It sits under the overall Civil Defence ‘Welfare’ function, where The Salvation Army has committed to support in five ‘sub-functions’, including psychosocial support, may also be called upon to assist in the registration of affected people, provision of corps buildings for short-term emergency shelter and the distribution of emergency goods. Whereas previously, and still in other territories, The Army has been responsible for catering food and hot drinks to first responders and affected people, this is no longer a requirement for TSA under the government’s Emergency Management Plan.
Psychological First Aid orientation training is also available to be run at corps and centre level. Corps officers who are interested in hosting training in their area should contact their nearest ESC or Major Deane Goldsack, territorial Emergency Services coordinator.
