Our grant proposal is a mental health intervention within the Putnam County fire service. Firefighters across the country are placed in traumatic situations on a daily basis, however, they typically have minimal mental health support available to them. Currently, most fire departments use a concept called CISD, however, research does not support the effectiveness of CISD as an intervention to curtail the mental health effects of trauma. Our trauma-informed approach would call for the integration of mental healthcare into the Putnam County fire service by funding three mental health counselors to be available 24/7, 365 days a year who will function to provide an immediate, trauma-educated response to traumatic scenes As well as the addition of a mental health supervisor to oversee the provision of chronic mental healthcare, thereby eliminating this population’s disparity to accessing effective mental healthcare. Supervisors will also act as community liaisons to promote mental health education, positive mental health perceptions, and peer to peer counseling among the entire Putnam County public safety service. This project would emphasize the trauma-informed principles of safety and peer support by creating an environment where firefighters feel safe enough to discuss their experiences with mental health professionals without risking their rank or employment status, as well as promoting peer to peer counseling through training to provide resources for those who may not feel comfortable attending counseling outside of their peer group (SAMHSA 2014). Our project would focus on changing mental health perceptions at the individual and relationship levels of multiple participants, thus creating change among an entire community of first responders (Beaton, 2006). This program aims to provide primary level protection by improving the peer-to-peer counseling abilities of this fire service, as well as secondary protection through the elimination of the disparity to accessing mental health services among this population, and tertiary protection through the planning and execution of long term mental healthcare plans for individuals who require chronic care. This program will be evaluated based on participation, participant perceptions, resource utilization, and participant health status.
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