Mental Health

So, it's easy to see why athletes—be they amateur or professional—have embraced the sports psychologist as a “mental coach”—on par with their hitting coach or pitching coach for a baseball player--who can help them take their game to the next level. That next level being those same abilities alluded to by Jones: To have faith in their abilities to perform, to thrive in pressure situations, make good decisions under pressure, and then deliver physical performance. But athletes aren’t the only clients. Consider the rigors of performing surgery, for example. Doctors may need help gaining the confidence to return to the operating room after losing a patient. Actors or comedians may need support getting back on stage following a poor review

I want to see this change, because that's the only way we'll ever be able to move forward with healing the trauma that's the root cause in many of these suicides. Firefighters and other emergency responders (e.g., law enforcement officers, EMTs and paramedics, and public safety telecommunicators, aka, dispatchers) to coroners need better education and tools to deal w

The primary goal of the foundation (a registered 501(c) nonprofit organization) is to support Warriors Heart—the first private, fully licensed, and dedicated residential treatment facility for the healing of our nation’s warriors--in meeting its mission. And that’s the only populations that they serve (Note I said “populations”—that includes firefighters and EMS personnel and law enforcement officers. Just want to make that clear!).

But perhaps the greatest threat to our psychological well-being is reluctance on the part of many in the emergency services field to accept that these hazards exist and that their negative impact on our lives, our families, and our organizations are real.  In many respects, to quote the adage, “We have met the enemy and it is us.”

Said Wheldon, who has worked with firefighters in her private psychology practice, “In my own work, and in speaking with other psychologists who’ve treated firefighters, I’ve come to learn that that firefighters are different. They’re different from police officers, who I’ve also worked with, and they’re the general public. And I think they need a different kind of psychologist. They deserve a different kind of psychologist.”

Do any of you know a firefighter who’s completed an Ironman Triathlon in full PPE with an SCBA unit on their back? I do, and her name is Diana Woolf. Check out her story here and see why she does it.

How does one of those Alpha males "open their soul" to their comrades who earlier in the day or the previous shift were "fighting" with them for dominance that day? How does a more introverted male or a woman or a male of color get the understanding ear that they seek as they try to deal with a particularly stressful incident or post-traumatic stress in general?

Fire Prevention Officer and PTSD suffer/survivor, Nathalie Michaud, continues to share the story of her journey and daily struggles to help break down the barriers and stigma surrounding firefighters and behavioral health issues.

Warriors Heart (WH) is the for-profit residential treatment facility that provides “cutting edge” treatment for military personnel (active, retired, and disabled), law enforcement officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel (hereafter referred to as clients) to help them overcome their addiction to drugs or alcohol and the effects of post-traumatic stress. As I write this, WH is still the only facility of its type in the U.S.

I "got" trained to do what is needed to save lives. I didn't "get" PTSD. I had to do my job in situations where you cry just hearing about the "how horrible it must have been." I'm healing and adapting from PTSD. My human side just got tired. That's all.