Have We Stalled Out at Awareness?

By Keith Hanks

In a time when we’re having more discussions about mental health, trauma, PTSD, and the toll of firefighting, why does it feel like nothing is changing?

Twenty years ago, people rarely spoke about PTSD in the firehouse. It had been a term used only when referring to the military and combat, and a new thing outside the psychiatric community.

There had been no reliable data on firefighter suicides, depression, anxiety, addiction, or any of the other effects of trauma. No one had been talking about what the job does to us emotionally and psychologically, and how it had been taking a toll on our families and personal lives.

A lot has changed over the past seven to 10 years. Discussions have become more common. Firefighters started to acknowledge that the job changes them, and for a significant percentage, that change can be deadly. 

During the last three to five years, presentations and seminars on trauma and PTSD have taken place at conferences and other events that previously never highlighted mental health-related topics. In the beginning, very few people attended most of these events. In some cases, no one did, so organizers cancelled the presentation. But over time, firefighters, chaplains, and even family members began to take part in the events.

So, why does it feel like we’re stuck in the mud at awareness? Because in a lot of ways, we are.

The Importance of Follow-up and Feedback

Awareness is important. When first responders began to tell their stories, often on social media, the fire service not only became more aware, but the stigma of staying silent began to melt away. Talks, classes, and other presentations on trauma became normalized. 

While lectures, classes, and presentations are a great way to educate people, the learning shouldn’t stop there. Often, attendees lose valuable insights after the event. To keep the conversation going and ensure continuous growth, follow-ups and feedback on these presentations are crucial. 

Those who attend presentations need to bring the ideas discussed back to their department or organization. They should return empowered and eager to share what they learned with their fellow firefighters.

We need to give the same ambition to presentations on mental wellness and trauma as we give to sharing new tactics and strategies, search techniques, or hose-line operations.

Access to Events is an Issue

The other part of the problem is not every fire department has access to these events. Even for those that do, one member, on average, will attend a presentation.

We’ll make a big leap forward when we increase accessibility.

Most firefighters, especially those who are on-call or volunteering, can’t afford the price of admission to some of these conferences. In addition, organizers don’t host these larger-sized events in every region, where every department is within a reasonable distance. This becomes a deciding factor for the firefighter who is contemplating attending. He or she might not be able to dedicate days to travel.

What would accessibility look like? Like this:

• Department, organization, or region-based classroom-size presentations allow many, or even a town or city government, to share the costs
• Speakers offering lower costs, and presenters allowing entities, like city governments, to put them in as a line item in their budgets

Discussion and Implementation is Key

The other part that falls on the speakers and presenters is follow-up and feedback. A few weeks following a presentation, the speaker should contact the departments and organizations, and then ask for feedback and learn what attendees took away from the event.

Even the leadership and administrators should check back in with those attending these events to ask for their thoughts and takeaways. Like any other training, we only learn from it if we discuss and implement it. What good is a new technique for a fire attack if only six members have learned about it?

We need to look at our mental health and wellness as firefighters with as much enthusiasm and eagerness as going to a live fire training. Over the last 10 years, the fire service’s awareness of mental health and wellness, trauma, and PTSD has changed drastically in order to gain momentum and continue the fight against the stigma. We need to bring these discussions back to the firehouse kitchen table.

The knowledge and resources are there, along with presenters willing to share them with departments everywhere. It’s time we began bringing these discussions to every fire station in North America, and the world.

Continuing education and word-of-mouth will enable us to save the lives of our brothers and sisters suffering in silence.