Two-Day Conference Addresses Mental Health of First Responders

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(TNS) — Chad Watson with the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office thinks it’s important to recognize that everybody has a story.

“And first responders typically respond to hundreds of critical incidences throughout their career – where the normal person may experience a critical incident three to five times in their life,” Watson said.

Not left unimpacted by that, Watson noted that there are times when first responders get these internal injuries they may not recognize.

“I think the biggest thing is just being open and being willing to share your story because in the first responder community, everybody has those stories,” Watson said. “But a lot of times, in the past, it’s always been stigmatized, and people weren’t always willing to come forward.”

Watson thinks that first responders are becoming more open about sharing, which helps.

“It helps everybody,” Watson said.

Discussing and providing training related to this topic, a two-day First Responder Mental Health and Wellness Conference started on Thursday at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain in Wheatland. It is presented by 1st Responder Conferences, which puts on conferences in different states, and co-hosted by the Yuba County Peer Support Team. The conference is for all first responders, including police, fire, Emergency Medical Services, dispatchers, military/veterans, corrections, coroners, chaplains, spouses, professional staff and other public safety personnel.

Both local and non-local groups are attending the local event. For example, Mike Johnson said that he is a retired correctional sergeant with the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office in Utah. After retiring, he helped the department use funds for its peer support team. Four of the department’s peer support members, himself included, came to the conference from Utah.

According to Johnson, peer support makes a big difference – having somebody to talk to who has possibly been through the same situations.

Johnson advises friends or family members who are supporting first responders to not judge and to empathize.

One difficulty that may arise for first responders is the task of coping with feelings of grief.

“We’re all human. We have a job to do, and sometimes there are unfortunate situations where it gets to that point, but you’ve got to look at the big picture and see that you’ve done what you could do. And you’ve done the right thing and let yourself know that it’s not your fault,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s willingness to share did not seem uncommon on the first day of the conference, as the first speaker, Battalion Chief Matt Miranda with the Atascadero Fire and Emergency Services, spoke about challenges.

“When the child drowning happens, you can’t be on duty and go, ‘Hey, no thanks. I’ll deal with that when I’m in a better spot.’ Or, ‘No, I’ve got young kids. That call is not going to work for me – send somebody else.’ You can’t opt out; you’re going to get wet. You’re going to go to the calls that are impactful. You’re going to have to deal with the stuff that’s right in front of your face, and you’re going to have to figure out how to start working through it, so having some tools to dry yourself off,” Johnson said.

He conveyed that there is hope when you invest in the healing process.