In a life threatening emergency dial Triple Zero (000)
Storm and Flood Assistance
Lawson brings more than technical skills to his role as an Emergency Call Taker with the ACT Ambulance Service. He brings compassion, lived experience and a deep understanding of the importance of listening.
As a proud First Nations man, helping people through emergencies for him is deeply personal.
Lawson faced a number of health challenges during his childhood, including epilepsy. Diagnosed at just three years old, he experienced seizures throughout much of his life.
He knows first-hand the impact that emergency services can have on individuals and families.
“I was very involved with the ambulance service from a very young age,” says Lawson, “but as a patient.”
One experience during the COVID-19 pandemic proved particularly influential. After suffering a severe seizure that lasted almost hour, Lawson was very grateful to the single paramedic who came to assist him and his mother.
“The service was really, really short staffed because of the pandemic,” remembers Lawson, “but they still managed to send out an ambulance and a paramedic.
“It made me realise that, no matter the circumstances, the ambulance service is always trying to do their best for our community.”
It set him on a trajectory, and Lawson is now studying to become a paramedic himself, but his emergency career is already well-underway as an Emergency Call Taker.
His pathway to his current role began with the First Nations Work Experience Program, run by the ACT Emergency Services Agency.
Lawson joined a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who were introduced to career options across the agency.
It was during this time Lawson discovered something he had never considered before: a career answering emergency calls.
“I obviously knew Triple-Zero existed, but it had never occurred to me that call taking was a real job that people do,” he says.
“Because I have personal experience of what it's like to be a patient, I can really relate with the callers.
“I understand what it's like to be vulnerable in that moment.”
The role is providing Lawson with valuable industry experience, while he continues his paramedicine studies, allowing him to work alongside clinicians in the Emergency Communications Centre.
Lawson believes one of the most crucial skills in his call taking role is active listening.
This skill is closely connected to the First Nations concept of Dadirri - a process of quiet, still awareness, waiting and listening with more than just the ears.
“Storytelling for First Nations people is not just the telling of a story,” says Lawson, “it’s also the act of active listening.”
For Lawson, Dadirri helps shape the way he approaches every call, and this ability to listen deeply helps him build rapport with callers.
“Someone can be screaming and be very distressed,” he says, “but if you really listen to them, then reassure them in a nice, calm voice that we've got help organised and it won’t be delayed, you can just be that person that they can rely on.
“If they're not being properly listened to, then they won’t feel heard and understood. And that will just make the situation ten times worse.”
As NAIDOC Week highlights the contributions and achievements of First Nations peoples, Lawson hopes more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will consider careers in emergency services.
He believes greater First Nations representation across the sector can strengthen community connections and help ensure that everyone feels comfortable accessing support when they need it.
“I want the First Nations community to know that there is representation within the ACT’s emergency services,” says Lawson.
"We are here, we are willing to support and obviously we are judgement-free.”
His message to young First Nations people considering their future is simple: there is a place for them in emergency services.
Whether through work experience programs, communications roles, enabling services or frontline response careers, Lawson encourages people to explore opportunities and take that first step.
“I think having more mob applying would be really crucial to actually having more representation and having a bigger impact on the Indigenous community,” says Lawson.
“Once you're in, you've got help from everywhere. Like if you did want to become a paramedic, you've got everyone in the room having your back and supporting you.”
As a proud First Nations man, helping people through emergencies for him is deeply personal.
Lawson faced a number of health challenges during his childhood, including epilepsy. Diagnosed at just three years old, he experienced seizures throughout much of his life.
He knows first-hand the impact that emergency services can have on individuals and families.
“I was very involved with the ambulance service from a very young age,” says Lawson, “but as a patient.”
One experience during the COVID-19 pandemic proved particularly influential. After suffering a severe seizure that lasted almost hour, Lawson was very grateful to the single paramedic who came to assist him and his mother.
“The service was really, really short staffed because of the pandemic,” remembers Lawson, “but they still managed to send out an ambulance and a paramedic.
“It made me realise that, no matter the circumstances, the ambulance service is always trying to do their best for our community.”
It set him on a trajectory, and Lawson is now studying to become a paramedic himself, but his emergency career is already well-underway as an Emergency Call Taker.
His pathway to his current role began with the First Nations Work Experience Program, run by the ACT Emergency Services Agency.
Lawson joined a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who were introduced to career options across the agency.
It was during this time Lawson discovered something he had never considered before: a career answering emergency calls.
“I obviously knew Triple-Zero existed, but it had never occurred to me that call taking was a real job that people do,” he says.
“Because I have personal experience of what it's like to be a patient, I can really relate with the callers.
“I understand what it's like to be vulnerable in that moment.”
The role is providing Lawson with valuable industry experience, while he continues his paramedicine studies, allowing him to work alongside clinicians in the Emergency Communications Centre.
Lawson believes one of the most crucial skills in his call taking role is active listening.
This skill is closely connected to the First Nations concept of Dadirri - a process of quiet, still awareness, waiting and listening with more than just the ears.
“Storytelling for First Nations people is not just the telling of a story,” says Lawson, “it’s also the act of active listening.”
For Lawson, Dadirri helps shape the way he approaches every call, and this ability to listen deeply helps him build rapport with callers.
“Someone can be screaming and be very distressed,” he says, “but if you really listen to them, then reassure them in a nice, calm voice that we've got help organised and it won’t be delayed, you can just be that person that they can rely on.
“If they're not being properly listened to, then they won’t feel heard and understood. And that will just make the situation ten times worse.”
As NAIDOC Week highlights the contributions and achievements of First Nations peoples, Lawson hopes more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will consider careers in emergency services.
He believes greater First Nations representation across the sector can strengthen community connections and help ensure that everyone feels comfortable accessing support when they need it.
“I want the First Nations community to know that there is representation within the ACT’s emergency services,” says Lawson.
"We are here, we are willing to support and obviously we are judgement-free.”
His message to young First Nations people considering their future is simple: there is a place for them in emergency services.
Whether through work experience programs, communications roles, enabling services or frontline response careers, Lawson encourages people to explore opportunities and take that first step.
“I think having more mob applying would be really crucial to actually having more representation and having a bigger impact on the Indigenous community,” says Lawson.
“Once you're in, you've got help from everywhere. Like if you did want to become a paramedic, you've got everyone in the room having your back and supporting you.”
