Creating a Psychologically Healthy Fire Department

Presented by: David W. Ballard, PsyD, MBA

Room 206

This course from the National Volunteer Fire Council and the American Psychological Association’s Center for Organizational Excellence is designed to empower fire department leadership to promote and support healthy, high-performing fire/EMS departments. Based on the framework from the Psychologically Healthy Fire Departments initiative, this course focuses on six key practices – member involvement, health and safety, member growth and development, work-life balance, member recognition, and effective communication – to facilitate member well-being and department functioning.

The session will be largely instructor-led, but will also include interactive activities (case study reviews and active participation).

This curriculum will help leadership and champions become better equipped to recognize, mitigate, and support behavioral health issues within departments while overcoming cultural stigmas that have plagued the fire/EMS service for far too long. This training was developed to complement the NVFC’s PHFD: Implementation Toolkit (attached).

Objectives:
– Identify key practices, tools, and resources to help support fire service members and reduce mental health stigma in the fire service.
– Understand current behavioral health issues, stigma, and barriers within the fire service.
– Learn action steps to create a psychologically healthy culture within a fire department.