The Art of De-escalation:
Communicating with Empathy in Public Service

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Introduction

This eLearning story was created to help Public Administration employees handle challenging situations with empathy and calm, especially when dealing with citizens who are upset or frustrated.

The story takes place in a city hall in Northern Italy, where Laura, the head of the Citizen Services Office, meets an elderly citizen concerned about a delay in his address change.
Through their interaction, the learner experiences how patience, listening, and small gestures can turn tension into cooperation.

Learning Goal

The main goal is to strengthen the learner’s ability to recognize emotions, stay calm, communicate with empathy, and guide conversations toward positive outcomes.
The course supports a continuous learning mindset, encouraging public employees to keep developing their emotional intelligence and communication skills over time.

Instructional Design approach

  • The Power of Storytelling

    Storytelling drives the entire experience.
    Rather than presenting theory, learners live through a story — discovering how empathy, calm communication, and self-awareness can transform everyday public service interactions into moments of understanding and trust.

  • Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction

    Merrill’s principles shape the overall learning flow:

    Problem-centered: the story begins with a real, emotionally engaging problem — an upset citizen.

    Activation: learners draw from their past experiences with frustration or conflict.

    Demonstration: Laura models effective de-escalation behaviors.

    Application: learners practice responses through decision-based interactions.

    Integration: reflection activities help internalize the behaviors into real-life practice.

  • Mayer’s Multimedia Principles

    The design follows Mayer’s principles to ensure cognitive efficiency and engagement:

    Coherence & Signaling: only essential information is presented, with clear visual and verbal cues guiding attention.

    Modality & Redundancy: text and narration are balanced to avoid cognitive overload.

    Contiguity: visual and verbal information are presented simultaneously to strengthen understanding.

  • Michael Allen’s CCAF Model

    Each scene has been structured following Allen’s model:

    Context: the learner is immersed in a relatable municipal office scenario.

    Challenge: the learner faces emotionally charged interactions with a citizen.

    Activity: interactive nodes (hotspots, dialogues, flashbacks) require active decision-making.

    Feedback: immediate and meaningful feedback from Laura (the learning coach) reinforces correct behaviors and reflection.

Outcome

The result is an interactive, scenario-based course that helps public employees build real empathy and de-escalation skills they can apply right away.
Learners finish the story with greater emotional awareness, clearer communication, and more confidence when handling difficult interactions.

The Course

What I Learned

Working with We Are Learning has been a fantastic and fulfilling experience.
It allowed me to fully take on the role of a learning experience designer, from building the storyboard to shaping the creative flow.
I chose to use AI only as partial support, because my main goal was to humanize the learning experience — to make every scene feel authentic, emotional, and deeply connected to real life.
In the end, this project became not just a course, but a story about people, empathy, and continuous growth.

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