NEWSLETTER

Taking care of your mental health is as important as managing your physical health. It is critical that the emergency service community recognize the importance of men-tal well-being and create a culture within the department that makes behavioral health a priority. Use International Fire/EMS Safety and Health Week to increase your awareness of behavioral health issues and focus on what you can do to foster positive behavioral health practices all year long. Page Live Webinars 2 Resources 3 Reports and Podcast 4 Courses and Webinars 5 Organizations 6

Articles 7

NFPA Quiz 7

A series of four free, live webinars will be held on behavioral health topics during International Fire/EMS Safety and Health Week. Attend as part of your Safety and Health Week activities. Register at https://nvfc.webex.com in the Upcoming Sessions tab under Live Sessions. Brotherhood vs. Parenthood: Finding your Life Balance Monday Monday, June 17 at 1pm EDT This webinar looks at all the roles a volunteer firefighter plays throughout their lives. From your role as an employee to spouse to parent to firefighter, how do you emphasize the importance, purpose, and balance of each role? This webinar will help you identify strategies for prioritizing each aspect of your life to help you achieve balance and time management. Using your Lifeline: Disease Management for a Stronger, Longer Life Tuesday, June 18 at 2pm EDT Heart disease is the number one cause of line-of-duty death in the fire service. Heart dis-ease has many risk factors and just as many preventive strategies. This webinar will help you identify your current risk and present tools for management of your current risk factors and prevention of developing future risk factors to help you live healthier. Putting Out the Fire: Stress Resilience Strategies Wednesday, June 19 at 1pm EDT Stress is an underlying risk factor that affects a majority of the population, especially first responders. Can you identify your current stressors? Do you know what types of stress-ors exist? Do you know the types of stressors to which you are susceptible? This webi-nar helps you key in on the types of stressors most prominent for firefighters and how to successfully manage stress as it arises. Injury Prevention for the Fireground Thursday, June 20 at 2pm EDT Strains, sprains, low back pain… Learn how to limit the occurrence of these types of in-juries on the fireground. This webinar identifies physical training, flexibility, and ergonom-ic movement strategies that can help increase a firefighter’s ability to perform their duties more efficiently.

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Firefighter Life Safety Initiative 13 – Mental Health National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Initiative 13 of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s Life Safety Initiatives focuses on the mental well-being of firefighters and their families. The initiative asserts that firefighters, EMS personnel, and their families must have the resources and help available to deal with the various complications that their jobs can bring to their lives, especially issues regarding emotional and psychological stress. The new Firefighter Life Safety Initiative 13 web site contains important resources, training, and research, including the new model for expo-sure to potentially traumatic events and stress aid for fire and EMS personnel.

NVFC Member Assistance Program National Volunteer Fire Council and American Addiction Centers The NVFC and American Addiction Centers have teamed up to provide the National Fire Services Member Assistance Program to all NVFC members and their families. NVFC members and their families can call the free, confidential Member Assistance Hotline any time day or night to help with issues affecting your life, such as alcohol or drug addiction, anxiety, depression, stress, PTSD, relationship problems, work-related con-cerns, legal problems, financial management difficulties, critical incidents, or psychological problems.

Your Guide to Healthy Sleep National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute This booklet from NHLBI provides information about important sleep topics such as common sleep myths and practical tips for getting adequate sleep, coping with jet lag and nighttime shift work, and avoiding dangerous drowsy driving. It also includes information on sleep disorders, such as insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, narcolepsy, and some parasomnias.

Depression Section Medline Plus Medline Plus is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. The Depression Section of Medline Plus provides a compendium of resources, tools, and information about this mental health topic.

Emotional Health Center Everyday Health Media This online resource center contains information and articles on mental health topics including anxiety, de-pression, and stress.

National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety NIOSH is the federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the pre-vention of work-related injury and illness. The Institute has released many resources for managing stress in the workplace, including:

Stress at Work booklet Working With Stress video

Stress Management in Work Place Settings Resources

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Suicide in the Fire and Emergency Services: Adopting a Proactive Approach to Behavioral Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention National Volunteer Fire Council Members of the fire and emergency services face a variety of daily stressors that can have lasting effects on their mental and emotional wellbeing. This report explores various behavioral health concerns and identifies resources and best practices for mental wellness and suicide prevention. The report includes data from a behavioral health survey conducted by the NVFC. A webinar providing an overview of the report and survey is also available.

White Paper: Suicide Surveillance, Prevention, and Intervention Measures for the US Fire Ser-vice National Fallen Firefighters Foundation This white paper presents the findings and recommendations of the National Fallen Firefight-ers Foundation Suicide and Depression Summit, which convened on July 11-12, 2011.

Issues of Depression and Suicide in the Fire Service National Fallen Firefighters Foundation This report is a summary of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s white paper on the topic of depression and suicide in the fire service based on the summit on this subject held Ju-ly 11-12, 2011.

White Paper: Firefighter Life Safety Initiative 13 National Fallen Firefighters Foundation This white paper provides an overview, best practices, and recommendations concerning Fire-fighter Life Safety Initiative 13 – “Firefighters and their families must have access to counseling and psychological support.”

The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Fire Fighters and EMS Responders U.S. Fire Administration and International Association of Fire Chiefs This report and accompanying computer-based education program presents background infor-mation on normal sleep physiology and the health and performance effects of sleep depriva-tion. Countermeasures for sleep deprivation are reviewed, which relate to identifying those par-ticularly susceptible to risks of sleep deprivation, individual mitigating strategies, and work-related issues.

Behavioral Health Podcast Ron Siarnicki, Executive Director of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, explains why behavioral health is especially important for first responders and looks at some initiatives in the area of behavioral health in the emer-gency services. This podcast was recorded for the NVFC in August 2009.

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Fire Service Suicide and Behavioral Health Concerns National Volunteer Fire Council This webinar provides an overview of behavioral health issues facing the fire service, with a fo-cus on firefighter suicide warning signs and prevention. Additionally, the results of the NVFC’s recent behavioral health survey are analyzed.

Behavioral Health National Volunteer Fire Council This webinar discusses the history of how behavioral health is woven into the fire, emergency, and rescue services, what it means to you and others, cultural progress, and future potential. Taught by Jeff Dill, founder of the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance, this webinar delves into some of the many concerns for firefighters, EMS personnel, and their families that are impacted by the job. To access this webinar, click the link above and register as a student using access code 6832.

After Action Review National Fallen Firefighters Foundation The first step in observing stress in firefighters and EMS personnel begins with an After Action Review, where every call and response is discussed. This course discusses the five questions that should be asked in the After Action Review every time firefighters and EMTs perform their duties.

Curbside Manner: Stress First Aid for the Street National Fallen Firefighters Foundation This course presents a new way to approach and care for the citizens that firefighters and EMS personnel encounter every day. The treatment that citizens receive from firefighters and EMS providers can affect their experiences during and after a fire or medical emergency and their ca-pacity to recover and move on in its aftermath.

Dealing with a Line of Duty Death Firefighters Support Foundation This 50-minute program presented by first responder psychologist Dr. Ellen Kirschman discuss-es different aspects of dealing with the line-of-duty death of a firefighter.

When a Child Dies on a Call Firefighters Support Foundation This 20-minute program presented by psychologist Dr. Anne Bisek tackles the issues firefighters may face when a child dies on a call and ways firefighters can prepare for and cope with this tragedy.

When to Seek Therapy Firefighters Support Foundation This 30-minute program presented by psychologist Dr. Anne Bisek answers questions she has found that first responders frequently have about seeking therapy.

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Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance The Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance is a nonprofit organization that aims to educate senior fire officers, firefighters, EMS, and supporting personnel about behavioral health, the mental stressors that this type of job can have, and the consequences of not recognizing them.

North American Fire Fighter Veteran Network NAFFVN offers resources and information to educate firefighters about behavioral health issues such as stress, job burnout, and post traumatic stress reactions in order to better respond to the needs of first re-sponders.

Firefighter Cancer Support Network The objective of the Firefighter Cancer Support Network is to provide timely assistance to all fire service members and their families in the event of cancer diagnosis.

Screening for Mental Health This nonprofit organization provides online, telephone, and in-person mental health screenings, as well as sponsors annual events such as National Depression Screening Day and National Alcohol Screening Day. SMH programs include both in-person and online programs for depression, bipolar disorder, generalized anxi-ety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, alcohol problems, and suicide prevention. Re-sources include anonymous online mental health screening tools among many others.

National Institute of Mental Health The mission of NIMH is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure. The site contains research, information, and resources on a wide array of mental health topics, including anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, de-pression, and suicide prevention.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration SAMHSA’s mission is to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America’s communities. The web site provides information, resources, programs, and publications, on a variety of mental health top-ics, including coping with traumatic events, stress, anxiety, and much more.

Mental Health America Mental Health America is a nonprofit association dedicated to helping all people live mentally healthier lives. Their resources and activities include information on mental health topics, a help line, Mental Health Month materials, National Depression Screening Day, advocacy programs, and prevention and recovery programs.

American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress The Academy is a multidisciplinary network of professionals who are committed to the advancement of inter-vention for survivors of traumatic events. Resources include Crisis Talk, which has a forum for emergency responders.

Mental Health Foundation Based in the United Kingdom, the Mental Health Foundation provides information, advocacy, and programs to help people survive, recover from, and prevent mental health problems.

Sleep Foundation Sleep is vital to a person’s health and wellbeing, yet millions of Americans do not get enough sleep. The Na-tional Sleep Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable, educational, and scientific nonprofit organization dedicated to improving sleep health and safety through education, public awareness, and advocacy.

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B.E.S.T. Practices and Stress By Chief Jeff Cash, National Volunteer Fire Council In this article, which was published in the December 2009 issue of Firehouse Magazine, Chief Jeff Cash examines the stress first responders face, the difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ stress, and ways to manage stress.

Firefighters and Stress Management By American Addiction Centers for the National Volunteer Fire Council This article looks at the stress firefighters face and explores coping mechanisms to help ease stress.

A Check Up From the Neck Up By Billy Hayes for FireRescue1.com This article focuses on Firefighter Life Safety Initiative 13 – “Provide firefighters and their fami-lies access to counseling and psychological support.”

Behavioral Health: Minding Stress on the Job FireRescue1.com In this article, a medical team from New York discusses their experiences with the FDNY and offer advice that can be applied to all firefighters who are regularly exposed to traumatic inci-dents.

Identify, Manage Firefighter Emotional, Behavioral Issues By Jeff Dill for Fire Chief Fire officers need to be able to recognize when a firefighter is suffering from emotional or be-havioral issues caused by traumas experienced on the job or at home.

Firefighter Behavioral Health: Taking Care of our Own By Fire Chief Mike Thompson for FireRescue1.com This article looks at the behavioral health program at the Spokane Valley Fire Department.

Take the NFPA quiz at

www.nfpa.org/fireservicequiz

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NFPA QuizNFPA QuizNFPA Quiz The NFPA, IAFC and NVFC are asking career firefighters, volunteer firefighters or other fire department employees and fire service members to take an online, interactive quiz, featuring 15 questions related to firefighter health and safety.

125 random quiz takers will win a commemorative challenge coin.