Suicide rates continue to be higher in the first responder professions according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Tiesman et al., 2021). First responders work as law enforcement officers, emergency medical services (EMS) professionals, firefighters, or emergency telecommunicators (dispatchers). Law enforcement and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty (Tiesman et al., 2021). Even so, according to national resources, only 40% of firefighter suicides are reported (US Fire Administration, 2021). Part of this is due to the high stigma of mental health in the first responder community and being in a profession that fosters a sense of toughness and control (Fullenkamp, 2019). First responders are exposed to others' trauma regularly. Their roles expose them to chronic repeated trauma, leading to increased substance use, troubled relationships, and negative impacts on their mental health (SAMHSA, 2014). Due to the high rates of suicide and poor mental health in the first responder community, the state of Ohio started a department focused on First Responder Wellness (Ohio.gov, 2021).
For the multi-level public health project, the focus will be on building resilience in the first responder community in Wood County, Ohio community. By building resilience, the hope would be to decrease the effects of chronic repeated trauma. The CDC social-ecological model will be the framework for the interventions. This model focuses on four different levels of intervention including individual, relationship, community, and societal (CDC, 2022).
For the individual level, I focused on the education of the first responders and implemented a course on building resilience. The relationship level focused on educating the peers, family, and loved ones of the first responders. The community level had a focus on wellness days and appreciation days in the workplace as well as providing national, state, and local resources to area departments. The societal level includes a messaging campaign and drafts of wellness policies to implement across the county for our first responders.
This project is being utilized by a local first responder group as a framework for intervention strategies for our local first responders.
Resources:
Fullenkamp, L. J. (2019). A Qualitative Analysis of the Effects of Crisis Intervention Team Training among Rural Law Enforcement Personnel (dissertation). ProQuest LLC, Ann Arbor, MI.
CDC. (2022, January 18). The social-ecological model: A framework for prevention |violence prevention|injury Center|CDC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violencepr...ecologicalmodel.html
National Alliance on Mental Illness. (2022). Public Safety Professionals. NAMI. Retrieved from https://www.nami.org/Your-Jour...Safety-Professionals
SAMHSA. (2014). Trauma awareness - trauma-informed care in behavioral ... - NCBI bookshelf. Treatment Improvement Protocol. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207203/
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2018, May). First Responders: Behavioral Health Concerns, emergency ... - samhsa. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/d...sponders-may2018.pdf
Tiesman, H. M., Elkins , K. L., Brown, M., Marsh, S., & Carson, L. M. (2021, April 26). Suicides among first responders: A call to action. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-sc...es-first-responders/
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