I want to become a dispatcher in North Carolina
That’s my goal anyway. I just have a few hurdles to overcome. I’m 27 if it matters.
There’s a course offered by a local agency that you can pay for and it provides you all the training that you need to become a dispatcher before you even apply. I am planning to take this course. I also love that it allows you field hours of training so you get a feel of what it’s really like before you commit. I think this will be good for me.
I have a clean record, a bachelor degree in communication, and over ten years of customer service experience. I also worked as a contractor for the U.S. Navy handling sensitive information.
The only issue is I have a lengthy mental health history. Anxiety, which I take medication for and no longer experience symptoms of (thanks to the medication), a history of PTSD (from five years ago, I no longer meet the criteria and I worked hard in therapy to develop coping skills to get better), and last but not least, schizophreniform disorder (not to be confused with schizophrenia). This is still a psychotic disorder, just with a much shorter duration than schizophrenia and I’m in remission now. I have never been hospitalized at all. I have a very brief history of self harm from shortly after high school where I tried it and didn’t like it, the only reason it’s in my therapy notes is because I told my therapist about it to keep her in the loop.
I work closely with a psychiatrist and plan to continue to do so. I’m excellent at recognizing when I need help and getting it promptly.
I will be 110% transparent about this during my psych eval but I’m worried it will be a permanent disqualification from every agency. Maybe waiting to have a few more years of stability under my belt could help? Should I discuss all this with the agency before I apply? Is there still a chance I could make it?
I have the opportunity to become an EMT through my local community college and I’m considering that as well. There’s no psych eval for that at least. Would becoming an EMT ever improve my chances of being a dispatcher later on?