The Culture

We begin with a brief history of mental health influences in first responder culture and how/why an evolution of better provisions has occurred. We also look at stigmas and specific differences in the sub-culture of police, fire rescue, EMS, and emergency dispatchers. We conclude this section on a nutshell summary of what every administrative leader should know about what is going on in the culture.

Wellness Challenges

We dive head first into the most common wellness challenges and the best clinical and non-clinical options to treat them. We examine addictions and their ideal interventions. We also examine common nutritional deficiencies of first responders and how spiritual influences can make the difference in surviving the worst threats to first responder wellness.

Legal Challenges

One of our most popular topics covered, probably because it seems to be absent from most wellness training courses, but research shows that the legal challenges can bring significant stress to an already stressful profession. The legal resiliency of knowing legal pitfalls and how to navigate a career around such risks is something we feel is imperative to mental well-being.

Innovations & Solutions

What wellness services and strategies work and which fall short? What innovations are applied to old concepts and what is the most credible research evidence to support the answers to these questions? From newer therapy options to technology and software apps--we cover the topic of innovations in total wellness for first responders.

Marriage & Family

We cover the important but often overlooked role of relationship satisfaction and its impact on total wellness, while detailing principles, exercises, and resources every first responder couple should know about. This section is led by marriage & family therapists and/or psychologists with their own personal experiences in first responder marriages.

Marketing Wellness

Half the battle of offering mental health provisions like wellness teams is knowing how to market it to your peers. Too often the emphasis is on depicting it as a source of help for existing issues, rather than a resource to avoid future issues, and too often there exists a lack of resources for physical and spiritual help. We cover a brief but comprehensive approach that increases the likelihood of gaining trust and making an impact.

THE NEUROLOGY OF RESILIENCY

Without the basic understanding of how resiliency is developed in the brain and the challenges to such growth, nothing else about resiliency taught in this course would be effective. We address such hurdles as amygdala hijack, dopamine addiction, self-sabotage, and neuroplasticity with relation to becoming more mentally, physically, and spiritually resilient.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF RESILIENCY

In order for the strategies of resiliency to work, the foundational principles of resiliency must be known. We cover these important foundations in this section and the response by most students is an epiphany of what they've been doing wrong all along. Foundations of resiliency is one of the most popular and interesting sections we cover in this course.

THE DOMAINS OF RESILIENCY

Based upon recent and credible research on what makes up human resiliency and what factors is depends upon, this section details the domains that resiliency depends upon, along with how we can take the test to discover which domains are our strongest and weakest.

THE STRATEGIES OF RESILIENCY

This section covers the nuts and bolts of developing resiliency through the discipline of strategies that become more effective over time. Relying upon the natural neuroplasticity of our brain and nervous system, these strategies have been proven to work in other professions; we feel it's about time they became a standard in public safety.

COMMON LEGAL CHALLENGES

We cover common legal challenges to first responders and how to avoid them. These include, but are not limited to, use of force, injury liability, workers' compensation, discrimination, privacy violations, failure to render aid, union disputes, mental health disorders, criminal or procedural investigations, and vehicle injuries.

STRATEGIC LEGAL SOLUTIONS

This section addresses the best options if you find yourself or your department against a legal issue, and includes preparing for arbitration, investigative committees, media coverage, and other considerations beyond trial procedure. We examine many interesting case laws involving first responders/departments and how they have shaped the legal culture.

ANGER RESILIENCY

Unlike other career threatening challenges to first responders, anger gives little warning or chance to intervene. For this reason, we lay a foundation of anger management upon prevention, rather than intervention. We also examine the role of the brain and nervous system and how anger is a form of dopamine addiction.

ANGER INTERVENTION

When it comes to anger, resiliency isn't enough--the job continues to test patience with people and situations, and it seems near impossible not to react with personal defensiveness, involving emotional, verbal, and/or physical responses that can quickly spiral out of control until the damage is done and the career is under fire. This section covers remarkable techniques that go beyond mere breathing exercises and counting to ten. We also cover peer to peer intervention in response to warning signs of an impending anger boil-over.

THE ROLE OF FEAR VS ANGER

Understanding that anger is really just an expression of fear when put into context creates a great deal of leverage in managing it. We become angry because we fear a loss of control, a threat to safety, or an injustice to our ego. We fear how we would feel if we DON'T let out the pressure that has built over time. We fear the emotions we are stuck with if we let someone get away with what they said or did. When we see anger in the light of our fears and insecurities, we can use the context to gain greater resiliency and intervention of ourselves.

REAL WORLD CASE STUDIES

One of the best sources of motivation to get anger under control is looking at examples of others who have suffered the loss of their job and even their freedom due to not managing their anger. In this section, we look at real world case studies, many of them involving body camera/security footage of first responder calls involving dire consequences of anger hijacking common sense and self-control. We close the course with this motivational section, as a motivation to learn from the mistakes of others, and what they might have done differently.

CLINICAL QUALIFIERS

When disregulation or crisis reaches the point where clinical interventions are needed, you want a resource list that isn't going to burn those you are trying to help. This section covers simple principles and qualifiers that help you sort out your best options. We also help you avoid deceptive practices of marketing and over-hyped promises, along with what questions are most important to ask potential therapists or treatment centers.

NON-CLINICAL QUALIFIERS

When faced with the reality that most first responders will not turn to clinical help unless they are reaching crisis or are mandated to do so, we must make more non-clinical resources available to them in an attempt to avoid reaching a crisis point. This section covers advice on qualifying non-clinical resources, such as those found online and in mobile apps, as well as non-clinical events like marriage retreats and networking luncheons.

CHEMICAL BASED ADDICTIONS

Chemical based addictions are not always the most common addictions of first responders, believe it or not, but they tend to be the most obvious threats and often risk the most direct damage to careers, marriages, relationships, and life. Chemical addictions become more dangerous when combined with post-traumatic issues that also cause imbalance in brain chemistry. This section details these addictions and their warning signs.

BEHAVIOR BASED ADDICTIONS

Behavior based addictions tend to grow over time and are often overlooked as addictions at all. These can include overuse of social media and electronic devices, which creates over stimulation of the reward chemicals of the brain and nervous system. Sex and pornography addiction is almost seen as normal in today's society, but they are both forms of trauma and involve amygdala hijack. Food addictions imbalance brain chemistry and lead to nutritional deficiencies that exasperate mental health issues or lower resiliency to them. This is the section where we talk about the elephant in the room and what we can do about it.

ADDICTION RESILIENCY

Addiction resiliency is effected by the same principles and strategies we teach in pre-crisis resiliency, except that we cover an addiction specific focus that addresses the specific reinforcements and habits that many first responders develop in response to stress and trauma that can make them more susceptible to addiction. In much the same way that we can lower to need for mental health crisis intervention, we can do the same for addiction reaching crisis levels.

ADDICTION INTERVENTION

When intervention of impending or existing crisis is needed, we must know how to have those conversations and what we can and can't do to promote the greatest likelihood of not only intervention, but recovery into lifestyle sobriety. Beyond scare tactics, pep talks, and guilt trips, this section covers effective strategies to intervene and treat addiction in such a way as to save a career, a marriage, or a life, and give alternate chances instead.