Fire Service Professional Psychology Association: Annual Conference 2021

By: Robert Avsec, Battalion Chief (Ret.) and FSPA charter member

The Fire Service Psychology Association (FSPA) will host its 4th Annual Conference on December 3rd, 2021 from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm PST. The conference will be an online event—using Zoom—given the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on large group gatherings and air travel for many people. The following is the tentative schedule for this year’s conference:

8:00am-8:15am: Opening Statements

8:15am-9:45am: Session One

THREAT ASSESSMENT: An Overview of Violence in the Fire Service Workplace

9:45am-10:00am: Morning Break

10:00am-11:30am: Session Two

SUSTAINING EMERGENCY RESPONDERS’ COMMITMENT AND MORALE AGAINST COVID19 PANDEMIC: Experiences from the Singapore Civil Defence Force

11:30am-12:30pm: Lunch

12:30pm-2:00pm: Session Three

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VACCINATION RESISTANCE: Autonomy, Public Health, and Medical Ethical Considerations

2:00pm-3:30pm: Session Four

OPERATIONAL READINESS: Human Factors in the FIREFIGHTING ENVIRONMENT

3:30pm-3:45pm: Closing Statements

3:45pm-4:00pm: Completion of Evaluations/ Certificates

FSPA Meeting: 4:00pm-5:00pm

SPECIAL TOPIC: PREEMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGICAL SCREENINGS

The FSPA conference epitomizes the goal of FSPA: Bridging the gap between professional psychology and the fire service. Our central objectives for meeting that goal are:

Bring professional psychologists and fire service leaders together in an informative an educational environment.

Use that environment to show how professional psychologists can assist the fire service in dealing with issues involving mental health wellness.

Use that environment to show professional psychologists how the fire service works and give them a sense of fire service culture and its influence on firefighter mental hygiene.

Kristen Wheldon, PsyD., is the President & Founder of FSPA an organization dedicated to bridging the gap between professional psychology and the fire service by providing APA approved continuing education courses to mental health providers, behavioral health trainings to fire departments, and collaborating on research to better understand the needs of firefighters and their families.

We at FSPA feel strongly that equal participation by both professional psychologists and fire service leaders is paramount to the successful bridging of the gap. As a member of FSPA, and a retired member of the fire service, I’m calling on my fire service colleagues to meet professional psychologists halfway: Join FSPA and register for the 2021 conference.

Along with that, if your fire department has a relationship with a professional psychologist, encourage them to join FSPA and register for the conference. But if you don’t, contact some of the psychologists in your community and share this article with them, along with your personal invitation to join FSPA and participate in this year’s conference.

We all know that many of our firefighters and fire officers faced many challenges to their mental health wellness, especially during the past 18 months of the unrelenting COVID-19 pandemic. Through my work with FSPA, I know that professional psychologists are valuable resource that can help our people. So, let’s work together to bridge the gap, OK?