On August 1st, 2022 the San Patricio County Department of Emergency Management & Safety presented the graduation certificate for Shanna Owens, for the National Emergency Management Academy, to the Commissioner’s Court. This honor is held by only 1100 individuals nationwide, and Mrs. Owens was part of the first class from Texas.
This program takes place over a year span, where participants travel to a location for 4 week long sessions. They discuss various programs and issues facing emergency management as a field. The participants are selected from of pool of applicants. They all must complete a final capstone project for the course, and Mrs Owens did here project on how the County implemented Critical Incident Stress Management techniques throughout the response to COVID-19, to help county employees cope with the stresses of the response.