Relief for Responders: How an Embedded Mental Health Clinician Can Enhance Behavioral Health Program
Deputy Director of the Second Alarm Project. We’re so grateful that you are able to join us this morning. We’re we’d like to start by offering our sincere thanks to our webinar presenters as well as leadership that’s attending um from their agencies. And the today’s webinar is relief for responders, how an embedded mental health clinician can enhance behavioral health programs. So, it’s an important topic that um that we hope you all will get a lot out of and we’ll field questions at the end. Before we dive in, I just want to take a minute to share a little bit about who we are, the Second Alarm Project. We have uh recently merged with a partner organization, UCF Restores. I see some of our our team members from UCF Restores on the line. Welcome you to you all and and to everyone else. We’re a grant-f funed organization that provides free mental wellness services to first responders, their families, and their departments. Our team is made up of first responders, first responder family members, clinicians, and researchers, all working to improve the mental health of those who serve our communities. Our mission is to enhance the mental health and wellness of first responders and their families through direct services, training, as well as program development. And that’s really a key part of our work is providing technical assistance to help agencies build their own internal mental wellness programs that are sustainable and tailored to meet their specific needs. We also provide trainings on topics such as mental health awareness, post-traumatic growth through our struggle well program and partnership with Boulderrest Foundation, resiliency and leadership and peer support as well as uh family support programs. In addition, we host online webinars like the one today and we have a mobile app if you would like to check that out which includes self assessments, connections to trained peers, culturally competent clinicians and other wellness tools. And another one of our resources that I want to mention is the behavioral health access program or behav toolkit. It’s a comprehensive online guide to developing sustainable mental wellness programs within first responder organizations. And you can access the toolkit and all of these other resources through our website second alarmpro.org. And they’re all completely free and accessible um for first responders, their family members again in their department. So, just a quick housekeeping note before we jump in. Portions of today’s webinar will be recorded, but please feel free to ask questions in the chat at any time. We’ll be monitoring those questions and try to um bring those up to the presenters when there’s a little bit of a break. and we will shut off the recording at the end to do more of a discussion Q&A um for those who who may wish to wait for that time. So without further ado, the pleasure of introducing today’s speakers, Nicole Trollstrip and Sunshine Arnold. We’re absolutely thrilled to have these partners with us today. Nicole is a licensed mental health counselor and certified first responder counselor. She holds a master’s degree in mental health counseling from Nova Southeastern University. Has extensive experience providing counseling, crisis management, and clinical case management for both adolescence and adults. Since 2021, she has served with the Leyon County Sheriff’s Office, helping to build a holistic employee wellness and resiliency program. Her work focuses on reducing jobrelated trauma and improving quality of life for agency members and their families. Nicole brings a deep passion for creating trauma-informed organizations that truly support those who serve. Sunshine Arnold is a licensed clinical social worker working with the Citrus County Fire Rescue. She’s also the founder of Salt Therapy, a private psychotherapy practice focused on trauma and first responders. Sunshine brings a wealth of experience from her previous roles, including CEO of a domestic violence shelter, program director for the University of Florida’s child protection team, and as a key figure in establishing Jesse’s Place, Citrus County’s first child advoc advocacy center. She’s a published author, a proud FSU graduate, and a combat veteran who served in the United States Marine Corps with during Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. She’s also the proud wife of a law enforcement officer and mom to three amazing humans. And as I mentioned, we’re also grateful to be joined by leadership from both of their agencies who will share their insights on the value of embedded mental health clinicians and how this role supports both personnel and the mission. Thank you again for being here and a big thank you to our guests for your time, expertise. Um, let’s get started. I’ll go ahead and turn it over to our presenters. Thanks, Brandy. Good morning. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you to USCF Restores, Second Alarm, um, for making this opportunity and so many great opportunities for learning and sharing available. You guys have been a huge support for me when I started this role probably over a year and a half ago, and you guys are just such a great resource. I can’t say enough. Um, if anybody on here has not explored all their resources, they are invaluable. And a big thank you to my co-presenter Nicole for joining me um, to share each of our experiences. Um today we have information to share with you from um our own experiences working with first responder departments as clinicians. But what we’re really hoping for out of this today is some great conversation. Um we welcome your questions. So pop those in the chat. Hopefully we can get most of those answered for you um today. My name is Sunshine Arnold. I’m very excited. Um, and probably one of the most important reasons I’m invested in this work, um, for first responders is because I am the wife of a first responder, a law enforcement officer. I know firsthand the toll this work and the lifestyle takes on not only the responder, but their family as well. And I can remember a time when mental and behavioral health was really not discussed in the space like we’re getting to talk about it today. Um, so my journey to where I am currently in my professional career with Citrus County Fire Rescue took a lot of twists and turns to get here and I think without all of those I wouldn’t be as suited for the role um as I am. So I am a licensed clinical social worker. I chose that profession because I knew I wanted to help people. Um I actually didn’t have an exact population in mind when I started out and my career began. So I started working with children who had experienced trauma. Um in doing that work I saw not only the children that experienced trauma sometimes at the hands of caregivers but those caregivers also had very complicated um trauma history and that many times that went without much intervention or any at all. So it was really quickly I knew I wanted that to be my focus of helping people in trauma and more importantly healing them, helping them to overcome trauma. And it was also that time in my life I took a difficult and honest look at my own self when I returned to graduate school and I realized I too had a lot of trauma some that I had dealt with um I had worked on I had grown and some honestly I didn’t and I I wasn’t ready or prepared to do it at that time. Um, so very similar to the culture in fire and law enforcement, um, dispatch, our first responders, the message I received during my service in the military was what we did, the things we saw, they’re just part of the job you signed up for, and that seeking any type of mental or behavioral health support was really not encouraged. And the problem was, no matter what, how hard I tried, I just couldn’t tell my brain that was my job and it was okay. So I continued both in my own personal work and in developing my clinical skills to focus on treating trauma and related diagnosis working with children, adults and a particular interest in veterans and also first responders in my private practice where I use multiple modalities including EMDR. Um fast forward to today why we’re here. Um, I am lucky enough that I’ve been able to combine um that passion, what I care about working with trauma first responders and to a great opportunity that I had here um at Fire Rescue. So, welcome and we’ll hear from Nicole. Yeah, good morning. Thank you, Sunshine. Um, and thank you Second Alarm Project for having us. like Sunshine, I too have greatly greatly benefited from Second Alarm Project, from their support, from their services. Um, as I’ve gotten uh started in my role here at Leyon County Sheriff’s Office, they have been an incredible asset um to the work that we have been able to do. And so, as Sunshine said, I echo it all. Absolutely. Second Alarm Project, take advantage of the incredible resource um and resources that they provide if you don’t already. Um so like we mentioned, my name is Nicole Trollstrip. I am a licensed mental health counselor and a certified first responder counselor and I joined the Leyon County Sheriff’s Office in January of 2021. similar to most I think mental health professionals, it takes us a little bit of time trying work with various populations um to really find the population that is a good fit for for you. And um so prior to working here at the sheriff’s office, I was actually I was at Florida State University and in uh at FSU, I worked in the university counseling center. So we would provide the individual um and group therapy services to students at FSU. In my role at FSU, I did not actually provide the clinical services. My job was to help students get connected with resources beyond the university, beyond what the university was able to offer. And it was during that time and in that role that I really found an an interest and a passion and an ability to connect with people and help them take that next step to figure out, you know, maybe things feel really um hard right now. Maybe things feel really hopeless right now, but it will get better. Let’s do this together. let me help walk this journey with you. And so during my time at Florida State, I was privileged to to help build out the growth of our treatment coordination program there, which like I said, help students get connected with resources in the community. And then um just by happen stance, the sheriff’s office was hiring for a position that I felt like was similar, right? Like what’s the difference between college students and first responders? I I can do this. And um so with no background in law enforcement, I don’t come from a law enforcement family. Um my husband comes from a law enforcement family, but he is not in law enforcement. So I had no first responder uh background, no law enforcement background, nothing but my, you know, master’s degree in clinical, you know, I can do this. Um let’s do it. So, I am so grateful that the Leyon County Sheriff’s Office chose to take a chance on a not culturally competent clinician, which we will talk about a little bit later. Um, I’m very grateful that they took the the chance to allow me to become uh competent with law enforcement and really just allow me to take on this this new journey of helping develop um an embedded behavioral health program for for law enforcement. And so, um, in January of 21, I was able to start here and really just build our internal wellness program from the ground up. Um, I’m really excited to be able to share with you a little bit more about what that journey has been. Um, and how all of those experiences that I thought prepared me to be able to serve in this role and work with this population. um there’s a lot of challenges along the way and so I’m excited to be able to share that and um hopefully encourage other organizations that maybe are in the the midst of building out an internal program or clinicians that are interested in starting to work with this population. Um just giving you a little bit more insight into um how valuable this work is. So with that said we can move to our next slide. Is it Crystal? Are you doing them for us? Okay, perfect. So, there’s us. We just we did that. Um, so today our goals are um really to just have a a discussion with everybody on here. We know um Sunshine and I both have attended numerous trainings and the information is wonderful and valuable, but we really really know that you benefit the most from the discussion and from asking your questions and getting your specific questions answered. So, while we’re planning to go over um the challenges of first responder agencies in managing behavioral health programs, we’re going to dig in more to the roles and the duties of an embedded clinician. So, more about what Sunshine and I both do. Um and really discuss how having that embedded clinician can be a huge asset to your organization. Um, then we’re going to talk a little bit about what those programs can look like, the different um the different ways that you can develop or build out what you already have. Um, and then we’ll we’ll wrap up with some recommendations to enhance your programming um at your organization. You can go ahead to the next slide. Um, so I think an important place to start is we always have to recognize what the challenges are um in in doing this because like Nicole said um I think she and I both quickly realized that there was going to be some challenges um some that are you know very particular to first responders as well um and also about different first responders. So, as Nicole and I have talked, Nicole is obviously in a law enforcement agency where I work with firefighters and emergency medical services um personnel. And so, we may reference them a lot because those are are kind of our populations. But I also obviously want to recognize we have some other cultural differences that can even exist within um some of the others which is our crime scene, our forensic investigators, um our dispatch operators, even our corrections officers, healthcare workers. Um you know, a lot of times I hear some clinicians trying to lump first responders into this one big group. And there really is even subculture differences um within them as we talk through things today. Um and you know I also like to talk about challenges but I always I like to always put a positive spin and kind of reframe it is when you’re looking at challenges they can also be viewed as opportunities for growth. that these are um particular to our different departments and types of first responders. And even though they’re challenging, they can turn out to be some of the greatest benefit if we can really look to understand them and find ways to rise to the challenges. So our opportunities um for growth in managing a behavioral health program. Um the first is the stigma and the cultural barrier. So there’s really great work being done um at all levels individually within small groups and departments through peer support uh more broadly through um you know the whole first responder community is working to really reduce the stigma the cultural barriers for those that are seeking behavioral health assistance and we know that with time continued effort and education we’re going to continue to see these diminish like you know 20 years ago I don’t think we would have had the convers conversation that we’re having today. So, we know that we are making some headway um thanks to a lot of individuals pushing that effort. So, we still hear fairly often within first responders that this is the job you signed up for. Um I hear I don’t let the things I see affect me. I can file it away. I can block it out. The job. Yep. All those types of things. um the idea that being able to comp compartmentalize the experience. Um and then sometimes we also hear less than helpful things um when somebody’s struggling with um what they are seeing on the job. You know, maybe somebody’s saying to them, “Maybe this isn’t the job for you. Maybe you can’t handle it.” Um when they express reactions to a call, they might see that everybody else on, you know, on the crew seems fine. and everybody else that was on the call isn’t having this reaction, but is it actually maybe everyone on the crew is trying to hide their reaction because they’re still struggling um with that stigma and embarrassed to reach out to the group and say that maybe they need some help or talk things through. Um behavioral health support can sometimes be viewed as a weakness still within first responders. There is also the fear of, you know, human resources risk management involvement. Um fear that something’s going to be documented in a personnel file, that they’re going to be forced into some type of time off, whether it’s paid or unpaid. Um maybe even worried about total job loss for some reason if they ask for help. Um our first responders, there are helpers, there are fixers. They come from a culture, you know, that really values that toughness and self-reliance. So that idea that they can handle or fix anything turns into belief that they should also be able um you know to fix this within themsel. They feel like that it’s their responsibility as the fixer. I can figure this out. I can work it through. um peer support teams have really helped to make a huge impact I think on stigma and reducing barriers and bring about a big cultural change for behavioral health awareness. Um what I found to be really impactful is that um you know now I’ve been here a year and a half in our behavioral health programming and developing it um our members are now speaking up when we’re doing um incident debriefs. um when we’re doing outreach and when you know maybe a member is struggling or even a member is you know maybe the a little bit of opposition still to what we’re trying to change here in our culture and they’re standing up and saying hey I I’ve done this I’ve gone through this I got help this is the change that it made for me um our first responders definitely still trust each other before they trust anyone else um I can talk to them I can give them all the information education in the world. But really what makes the most impact is when they hear, you know, another member, a co-orker share their testament of how some type of behavior, a behavioral health experience really did help them and turn things around for them um and was positive. So Nicole and I are kind of going go back and forth in all these and share our own experiences. So, I’ll invite Nicole to talk some too about um stigma and cultural barriers that she’s been working with law enforcement. Yeah, I just um I think that you know everything I I wholeheartedly echo and agree everything that Sunshine has shared in terms of stigma and cultural barriers. Um you know, as she mentioned, we do work with different organizations and and they are first responders, but they’re different populations. And so at my organization, we have um a variety of internal then populations that we serve. So we have our sworn population, we have sworn law enforcement, but then we also have our sworn corrections, detention um facility. and just the differences and the cultural, you know, experiences between that just even those populations, what law enforcement, the stressors that law enforcement is exposed to is incredibly different than the stressors that our detention uh folks are are exposed to. And so, um, there’s there’s just challenges, I think, in and of itself within your organization because you do have so many different populations that you serve. And then we also have our civilian population, but in our agency, our civilian, our crime scene unit is civilianized except um for their their sergeant, but all of their positions um are nonsworn civilian members. And so there’s there’s challenges to meeting the needs, I think, of all of the different subcultures that exist within your agencies within your your agency’s culture as a whole. Um, and then something else that I wanted to highlight is the I think the challenge that comes with being a clinician in this culture. So speaking to all of my clinicians out there that advocate for people and you know will fight the good fight and do everything for them. For me personally, there has been a learning curve because I have had to be I have I have had to learn how to balance the organizational um the organizational needs, the organizational expectations. The t the top thing that we do in a law enforcement agency is serve the community, is serve the public. And so sometimes um you know some of the reasons that that Sunshine mentioned as far as stigma for law enforcement not coming forward, requesting mental health support, things like that, some of that is really influenced or or because of just the the the way that risk management, the way that um we have to function because of the level of liability that comes with a law enforcement organization. And so something I just wanted to make sure I just wanted to um for all my clinicians out there, it is hard. It is a hard job to balance and advocate and what we want, but then also recognize that we don’t know everything about the ins and outs of law enforcement and the ins and outs of of serving the public and what um the public is entitled to and and how we serve them, how our law enforcement and correction serves them. And so that’s something a challenge that I personally have had to really learn about and educate myself and um be open-minded to is just that sometimes there’s things that I don’t know about how the the how it works and that um yes, we want to to help people and support people and give them everything that they need um but there are limitations um when we are when we’re working in public service. So that was another challenge that I just wanted to quickly mention. Um some of these other ones that we have listed up there are I think are pretty pretty well um understood um and you know a common problem um as far as navigating confidentiality. We personally uh navigated that through writing confidentiality into our program policy. So, um I at my organization, I don’t provide any in-house clinical services, and we’ll get into a little bit more. Well, what do you do all day then? Um but we don’t provide any in-house clinical services. And so, that made confidentiality a little bit of a challenge for us. So, the way that we were able to get around that was through writing that in to our policy. Um Sunshine, how do you guys handle confidentiality in your organization? So that’s um really similar for us and and confidentiality um you know is definitely I think a concern. Um we know first responders um you know the nature of first responder work, the difficult situations that they go through together, the relationships that um occur on the job, off the job, just the nature of the shift work tend to make them really closely bonded. And you and I kind of talked about some differences between specifically fire and law enforcement. And one thing for fire is they they literally live together. They do operate um as a family in shift work. So they they know a lot about each other. And at times um they can it can be so much so that it seems or may even be that everyone seems to know what’s going on in everyone else’s life inside and outside of work. Um, so I know that sometimes those lines become blurred between sharing information in a respectful way and what can then lead to gossiping, which we know we don’t ever want in a work environment. Um, so and that was a really big thing when I got here. Um, our peer support had been established and trained and then because of, you know, changes and shifts and people leaving and coming and going, it had kind of um, dwindled down. So confidentiality was a concern that I heard from members that um they wanted to make sure when they reached out to peer support it was confidential. So, we took a look at our peer support and um did really focus on making sure we had a confidentiality statement and agreement for every peer support member um that it’s taken very very seriously and you know pretty much every time I talk to um go out for even just an outreach with a station just to visit and talk to them I reiterate about confidentiality. So again, kind of a cultural norm changing, making sure that we’re talking about confidentiality, talking about not sharing each other’s information, even people outside of peer support, um, and really, you know, making it very serious. And the way I, you know, I explain it to them, um, is, you know, I I have a license that I worked very hard for, and I care about, um, my fire and EMS guys and girls very much. um but I’m never going to risk my license and break confidentiality um for any reason. So, you know, I think that kind of helps me to gain some trust um as well. But we wanted to make sure that our our peer support team that we really strengthened that confidentiality piece because we did find out it was a concern among um you know among the membership. And I think um some other things on these challenges, we don’t want to spend too much time, but um you know resource and support limitations. We know that agencies are really challenged by having a lack of internal behavioral health resources readily available for most of us. Um for many, you know, the resources for some might even just be limited to the offer of an employee assistance program. Um, I can’t speak across the board, but we we definitely found when we did our annual behavioral health survey for the first time, it was very underutilized and the members that had utilized it had had not felt it was helpful for them. Um, and that can be detrimental because when a member does decide to reach out for help or is in crisis and is met with a resource that isn’t useful, um, they may not ask for help again. So, we want to make sure that um the tools that we have are going to be helpful. Um so, going on to some other things, we know that there’s still a lack of specialized mental health clinicians. Um especially I am in um Citrus County, which is um I think considered suburban now, but it feels kind of rural still on most days. Um, so we don’t have a ton of clinicians here, especially clinicians that really focus their practice um, on first responders. So that’s a big barrier for us. Um, and also treatment centers who specialize in treating first responders. Um, so once a member is ready to go to get help, where do they go? Um there’s great training opportunities like um with Second Alarm through IIAFF for clinicians that do because I know we’ve got some clinicians on here. So if you have an interest and you want to serve first responders, there’s great trainings um out there that you know you can help to become more culturally competent and like Nicole said, she did that when she came um to law enforcement. And um I also did the same thing when I came over to FIRE was really make sure as a clinician I I understood their their culture and how they operate. Um so another one of the challenges is sometimes there’s a lack of a champion. A lot of organizations and departments um already recognize the need to provide more behavioral health support or peer support, but who is that person going to be? who’s going to facilitate and manage your behavioral health program. Um, so I think like I said with the peer support here, that was the first step. It started off strong, but it kind of dwindled for this department um because there was a lack of a clear champion, somebody that could really take the time um and have a position that allowed them the time to really focus on peer support, the training needed, working on policies. Um, and like I said, the staffing levels, the turnover, varying shift work really um made furthering the overall behavioral health problem here more difficult before we had um somebody to facilitate those things. Yeah. And I’ll just jump in for a second on the lack of champion thing. I have seen this time and time again with organizations. Um, I’ve been very, very privileged to be able to support numerous law enforcement organizations across the country as they have been building out their wellness resources and their behavioral health programming. And consistently, what I see be the biggest barrier, the biggest challenge is not having a designated person to really move that, you know, move that forward. um that has been across the board. We we see things like Sunshine mentioned that they start really really strong and really great intentions, but if you don’t have that single person to keep it alive and keep it keep it moving and keep it in front of everybody, it gets very challenging. And so I um you know for organizations that may be on this looking for you know where do I start? What do I do? I would say um a very valuable insight to be able to bring back from this is let’s identify the who. Let’s identify the champion. Let’s identify the person whether it be somebody that’s already internal because I’ve seen it be very successful when they TDY somebody to you know oversee the wellness program. Um I’ve seen that. I’ve also seen when you bring somebody in um like like Sunshine and I when you bring somebody in that this is their job. this is their full-time job. Um, there’s a lot of different models and we can get into that a little bit a little bit later, but I think the value of having a designated person that this is what they do um is a is a really big strength for your organization um if this is something you’re looking to do or looking to enhance for your organization. Absolutely. So the last challenge that we see um this is one that I think is harder obviously for us to change is the occupational hazards of the job of a first responder. Um this is really a it it’s going to be part of the job. Um exposure to trauma especially for first responders compared to the rest of the population um we know is chronic and cumulative. Um it’s something that is unavoidable. So, we can’t really lessen the risk that these jobs are going to expose our members to potentially traumatic events. And I think that is important, you know, for us to recognize and even shows more importantly why we need to provide support because we know they’re going to be um exposed to cumulative trauma. So, what I what is important to remember though is that that doesn’t mean all of our members will necessarily suffer, especially to a diagnostically significant level. if we focus more effort on providing that really needed behavioral health and wellness um program education and that that starts early in their career and continues throughout. It’s not a one-time we teach you about your mental health, how to recognize signs and symptoms. Um but that the really this is an ongoing training and education throughout their career. And what you know I compare it to is you know we know that a lot of our first responders it’s really important they take care of their body that they’re physically fit and it’s the same thing this wellness fitness really needs to be something that we are installing from the beginning that this is really important for the longevity of their career. All right you can go ahead to the next slide Crystal. Yeah, this so this one is one of my favorite slides when Sunshine was putting this together and we were talking about it. I loved this slide because I think that it really showcases the value of having a full-time mental health clinician embedded in your organization. that all of these different roles and duties are things that your um that your embedded clinician can do for your organization that you either have and they are kind of you know peacemeal here and there different people doing different things or that you have um you know or that you don’t have and you your agency could benefit from. So and I saw a question in the chat too about you know what does the day look like? So for Sunshine and I both um and I’ll let her speak more to this from her experience, but for Sunshine and I both we our role we are licensed clinicians but we do not provide inhouse clinical services. And so for people that are not clinical on the call just what that means is we don’t sit down and do individual therapy with clients day in and day out. We don’t write treatment plans. We don’t diagnose. We don’t write progress notes. Um, we don’t provide in-house clinical services. What we do offer and I think is a huge benefit and a huge testament to having a mental health professional embedded in your organization is that we can bring a traumainformed um approach to this work. that um we bring a proactive traumainformed um things that people need to do and would benefit from to get ahead of exposure to chronic stress and trauma because we already talked about that’s an occupational hazard. someone that comes into a first responder career is signing up to be exposed to all the things. And yes, it is part of the job. And yes, it is, you know, what they signed up to do. But as somebody mentioned in the chat, yes, you signed up to experience it, but you didn’t sign up to suffer from it. you are still a human being and it is still important that we keep that human piece for our first responders. And so I think having a clinically sound um behavioral health professional in your organization that provides that perspective um in a in a variety of ways I think is hugely beneficial. So some of the things that um you know we’ve found particular or you benefit from is is in policy consultation. So our policies have been in place you know forever and maybe didn’t have a traumainformed uh perspective during the writing of it because it just wasn’t something that we thought about. We just didn’t it it’s not anybody’s fault. It’s not that anything was done wrong. It just was a a gap. And so now having somebody that has that trauma-informed perspective that’s able to say, “Hey, this is really great, but if we add this or tweak this, it’s going to help your members in this way. It’s going to be beneficial because um same for that like clinical guidance and behavioral health education. To us as clinicians, it makes sense. Like, we understand what the benefits of individual counseling are. We understand what the difference between a PHP and an IOP is. We we know these things, but as a first responder, that is not everyday jargon to them. And so, it’s um really really helpful to have somebody to explain that to them, to walk through with them. this is what the acronym means. This is how much this is how to use your health insurance. This is how much it’s going to cost. This is EAP. This is what EAP actually is, not what EAP is perceived to be. This is the reality of it. Um, so I think that the value of having that insight, that knowledge, um, coming from somebody embedded that’s part of the organization that has established themsel as a trusted, credible, reputable um, source for employees to go to really helps move forward. um what we’re trying to to help people do in terms of proactively addressing some of the concerns before it gets to be to the point that it’s going to be career ending or personal you know personal ruins. Um we want to try to get to that beforehand. So for me the some of the roles and duties that I have found most valuable have been um up there and providing that consultation and clinical guidance um helping people navigate the understand the the behavioral health system um and then also that influence through through policy and consultation. Yeah, absolutely. And um you know Nicole and I I say narrowed down what we do to these 12 core duties and responsibilities um you know that can benefit most from our clinical guidance and expertise. But we both agreed there are also things that we’re doing that are kind of outside these core that are just things that are working for our department. Um but these were what we felt like applied kind of across the board. um and that we really see our members benefiting from and wanting information for and wanting more programming. Um but having a clinician within your organization really ensures, you know, like Nicole said, every facet of your behavioral health program is now going to be clinically informed and credible. Um the presence of a clinician demonstrates to your members that the department is really serious about providing a professionally informed response to the behavioral health and wellness of the members. And again, if the if you are utilizing um you know a behavioral health and wellness facilitator is the title I’ve seen a few times um of you know either you a law enforcement person or a fire fire person that’s in that role. a clinician can still support them in the programming and assist as well. Um the policy consultation I think is really important like Nicole said um you know looking at the policies that are currently in place and you know it’s a lot of times not rewriting them but like Nicole said just really making sure that we’re looking at things from especially a traumainformed lens and that it’s um going to be a benefit to the members and we’re able to make you know recommendations. Um we work um you know really closely with the um I do here with the command staff on on those types of things that are higher level decisions. Um and you know sometimes having to challenge some of the cultural things that are here and saying well I think you know this could be done differently not worse not better just differently. And one of the key things um that was when I first got here is providing that behavioral health education piece like I said that I really believe um needs to be career long and start at the very beginning. So at my department um it begins their first week uh this Thursday we’ve got a new class coming through um their first week they will have about two two and a half hours with me as part of their orientation. Um they’re provided information, education on trauma and resilience and an overview of how to access the AY’s behavioral health program. Um we think this is really important because individuals are, you know, they come into this service many times with trauma already that may they may or may not have thought about and how it would um come out in their career. So, we want them thinking about that from the very beginning and not only thinking about that, but knowing where to go next steps for help, learning about peer support. That’s really the heart of the program. Um, all of our families of our new hires are also informed about our behavioral health programming at the um members pinning ceremony. So, we’re talking to the family from the start, the first time that kind of we see them. Um members are also provided um ongoing behavioral health education as part of their inservice and the training it’s different variety of topics. Um developing a personal wellness plan, how to build their resilience, suicide prevention and awareness, um teaching company officers how to recognize signs and symptoms. Um crisis intervention techniques, recognizing signs and symptoms of common behavioral health issues within our members. um conflict resolution at work as well. Um we also have started up our chief has started a newsletter that’s going to be distributed distributed to the membership and it’s going to have a behavioral health education kind of topic and tips section. Um I myself am constantly trying to keep up to date with um research education training that I can bring back. Um again I keep plugging Second Alarm but I love their trainings. I love the trainings ongoing things. So, I make sure that I keep myself informed. So, I’m providing the right behavioral health education that’s needed for my um first responder population. And this behavioral health education can also be less formal. Um I try, like I said, to get out to the stations as much as possible. I’m trying to build rapport and trust with my members. Um having frequent discussions, like I said, confidentiality. I bring it up over and over. Um I bring up over and over that it’s okay to ask for help. just kind of making those conversations to spread, normalizing um in our department that it’s okay to ask for help. Um that we want to see it as a sign of strength um and not a sign of of weakness. So facilitating peer support uh when I first got here, the peer support team was happy and that was nice. They probably received me right off the bat and they were like, “Are you taking over?” And I said, “Absolutely not. That’s not that’s not what peer support is for.” But I feel like I am able to kind of be a backbone to peer support so that now they have somebody that they can call that they’re not going out alone that they’re not um you know sometimes they’re like I want to make sure I’m telling them the right thing. Really what they need from the peer supporter is most of all that listening ear. Um, and then if it seems that, you know, we have a member that really is struggling beyond the scope of peer support, they know that they can call me at any time. Um, and I’m going to be there to support them as well. And also, um, you know, helping them make sure they’re making accurate risk assessments. Um, that they have me, like I said, in real time to have that behavioral health expertise if if needed. And I also help to um you know develop a training schedule for them, conduct meetings, making sure that our peer support team is meeting regularly um and they have that overall support from me and like one of my favorite really is the critical incident outreach or debriefing process. Um so here peer support was doing that. um you know and it and it was being done as much as possible but now that I’m here um I really can try to be as me at as many of those as I can when when and where I’m wanted. Um but it’s essential to do this because this critical incident um debriefing these outreaches really do help to lessen the potential impact a trauma exposure can have which is then going to reduce burnout and improve retention. So how we do that here um what’s working for us is the company officer the BC will contact me initially and as immediately as is feasible to that critical incident and um obviously I am just a person just one right now I’m available to them on call 24/7 and most of the time I can make it out but I do have you know a family and a husband so sometimes that can’t be done and and I get out there as quickly as I in and either myself, peer support or preferably both of us together will go out and do that outreach and do um a debrief with the crew and um really provide some education. And the whole purpose is really encourage an opportunity for the members to talk about that incident. Um talk about their responses openly, freely in safety. Um and really normalize the spectrum of responses that you could have no response and you could be having a pretty good reaction. Um, and then educating them what to look for in the coming weeks and and kind of how to know, okay, that call or or this situation really is sticking with me and maybe I need further support through a peer or maybe even an an outside clinician referral. Um, yeah, I think that’s a piece. Oh, I’m sorry. S go ahead that we we talked about is significantly different between our organizations just because of the the nature of fire service versus law enforcement. And so, um, I want to just offer that if anybody is in a space of trying to figure out what that could look like, how that could look. Um, you know, I think there’s a lot of different ways that we can figure we can make it work and we can offer that level of support. But just recognizing that it it might look different. It might look different at your organization. it might look different um based on the capacity of of your organization and your peers. And so um I think that that’s a really important piece of having an embedded clinician is they are able to champion the importance of it and um make adapting it to fit your organization’s needs. Um, and then I think this is a really important like a really great way time to highlight and Crystal if you want to switch or move to the next slide is just all of this amazing stuff that we’re talking about. All of the the stuff that Sunshine just mentioned, all of the stuff is only possible with leadership support like support from from your leadership. Like it is such an an important piece um of having getting an embedded clinician in the first place and then empowering them to take on those 12 different duties and responsibilities that we outlined in addition to everything else. Um but that that leadership support is is so uh is is critical is absolutely critical. And so um I know that we invited some of our leadership to just speak on that a little bit. Um how do you guys want to do that? Yeah. Um I believe my fire chief is still on and um talked to him briefly before. Um, but like Nicole said, we invited them here because I we really both believe um leadership support is is so important and um we both have leadership that is is supporting us. So, I would invite my fire chief Craig Stevens. I’ll make sure he’s Yep, he’s still on. Um, Chief, if you could just maybe just talk a little bit about um what you have seen in our membership since you were able to add this piece to the program. Well, good morning. Um, yeah, we were uh blessed to be able to have Sunshine come on board. Um, and of course, you know, as she mentioned, the first important part of bringing a clinician on to your department, especially dealing with first responders, is uh establishing that that uh trust with them. And uh, you know, that that’s been pretty much what Sunshine has had to do over a period of time, which um, you know, I think she’s well trusted and and respected by our personnel and our team members in the department. So first and foremost, you know, what what we looked at when we were looking to do this um is uh you know, we have to put an investment into our investment. Meaning uh we have to take care of our people. And if we don’t take care of our people, the most essential part of our organization, then uh you know, we’re not doing a good job as is leadership. So, uh, bringing, uh, you know, Sunshine on board to to help with this and help us navigate through this because you can write all the policies you want on mental health. There’s there’s no one way to to deal with any of this. And, um, you know, she’s helped us navigate through a lot of things that we were not so much uh, struggling at, but, we weren’t the professions at that. um and she obviously is which you know that that upped our game um taking care of our people. Uh we have seen uh a great turnaround on uh mental health issues as far as you know the the exposures to uh significant calls um and the return of our our personnel back to work. Um and then of course most importantly is the followup with them. not just to, you know, leave that stuff out there and let it linger, but to uh ensure that they’re getting the the assistance that they need because um as they navigate to get the help they need, whether it be through the employee assistance program, uh seeking help from another mental health profession, um utilizing our peer support program, whatever means that they choose to use. Um sometimes they find struggles that they can’t deal with. um navigating with through that process. So she might have to bring in a a different resource to to make that happen. So I can tell you that from our perspective it has been uh it has truly been an investment in our investment for our department um and has has changed things drastically. Um and then of course you know they talk about that champion. um that champion obviously is her for our department because she truly has uh you know turned it around the the peer support program. It was great because we we were following what they were doing throughout the state um with the mental health uh coalition. Um but that today that’s just not enough. Um so you have to up your game. Um and of course you know uh with the help of of the state and um you know following other programs I I believe there were three or four other uh organizations in the nation that had a licensed clinical social workers working for them. We were the first fire department in the state of Florida to hire one. So you know we’re pretty proud of that and um as all I can tell you it is a great investment. So, thank you so much. And I believe Nicole also has um some leadership on I do. Thank you, uh, Chief Stevens for sharing that. And I wanted to invite my executive director, Christy Gordon. She is the executive director for our human relations division, which oversees uh houses our employee wellness program. Um to Christie, if you’re I think you’re still on. If you’re able to just jump on and say a couple of words um as to your your perspective and how having an embedded mental health clinician has benefited our agency, that would be so appreciated. Absolutely. Good morning. You got me. Mic’s working. Yes. Okay. Uh well, good morning and as Nicole said, my name is Christy Gordon. I’m privileged to be the executive director here at the Leyon County Sheriff’s Office for the Division of Human Relations, which uh houses uh certainly our wellness program. I want to say a couple things. I just heard um that gentleman speak and you know, Nicole didn’t um she didn’t come into this, she built this. And so for for that, I I want to say publicly thank you. our our wellness program literally from the ground up has been uh the hard blood, you know, sweat and tears of of her and her teaching us how important this is to our industry and bringing that to the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. So, I know that u my sheriff would say the same thing and I’m grateful to her for what she does every single day to push her knowledge uh of how important this is and to us. A couple of things I’ll talk about that’s been very critical I think that we’ve seen by way of the investment to having a wellness program here. Someone said it early on uh in the our um the employee assistance program, you know, whereas previously this is a tough industry and with EAP a lot of times the only time you would see that utilized as a resource is if you made someone and I hate to use that word, right, but but really, you know, you you you force them into uh that uh assistance. And we’re seeing a lot of that that go away and and our members see because they’ve been educated uh that that resource is there and it’s there for them and their families and they’re they’re gravitating to that to help them through some really critical situations. So EAP uh is in a posture now to where people utilize that as a resource and they ask to go. Uh so that’s great. The other thing I want to uh really foot stomp is our peer support team. If you don’t have one in your agency, uh, reach out to Nicole or others that I know. I think Sunshine said she has one as well. It is so critical in the business that we’re in for members to feel they have that trusted peer that has been through that thing, whatever that thing is. And um we have volunteers in our agency that are a part of that team that it’s so critical for people to be able to pick up a phone 24 hours a day and talk to someone about whatever that is on their minds. And so our um implementing the peer support team has been critical and a huge huge initiative here and it’s been a huge success. Um, Nicole’s success I know is in part because of her tireless efforts of embedding herself in the day-to-day mission of the agency. And so if you are someone that’s trying to start a program in your agency, the trust that comes with this is because uh Nicole has been willing to get in a patrol car uh and get been willing to get in an environment that traditionally sometimes people are maybe intimidated by or timid to do, but because she’s put herself out there, it’s allowed the rapport to happen. Uh and then those men and women, whether they’re in a sworn or a civilian capacity, they have uh you you can watch if we’re at a program, whether it’s a wellness initiative or just a a member gathering, people are gravitating to her because she has been out in that work field with them and she has developed the relationship and the rapport. And so trust it just it organically happens. And so the program has is been uh has been able to flourish because of that uh the willingness of her to get out there. again tough industry. So um doing that uh really uh is an investment in in um not only the program but the future of the program. I will say um whether it’s in a proactive or reactive posture uh because of the rapport that Nicole has developed with leadership and our membership. Uh again proactive or reactive. One of the first questions I get when the phone rings is has Nicole been engaged with this member? Has Nicole does is Nicole aware? Has Nicole met? Has Nicole done? Her name comes up immediately. Again, whether whatever posture we’re in, whether we’re trying to get ahead of it and push something and implement something or if there has been some type of incident that’s with been with a member. Um, and again, it’s because our leaders have the trust. And that didn’t happen overnight. And I know she’ll probably shake her head in affirmation. That’s not something that happened overnight, but it’s something that’s been years of developing relationships and trusted relationships. Uh my last two points will be this. Um um we we’re very proud of what we’re trying to implement again and it’s a daily grind. This isn’t something that just happens, you know, again because we want it. We have to work hard at it, but we are trying to implement holistic wellness hire to retire. Um Nicole is one of the very first conversations that’s with our members when we onboard new members every other Friday. Nicole is with them uh talking about resources and ensuring them that they have resources available to them to build their careers around truly if if they need those. And we’re implementing things that again takes us to hopefully that retirement piece uh that we are that’s in a work we’re still working towards that. We’re working really every single day to to for what that retire looks like, but hired to retire. We’re here to support that. Um, and my last bit of advice is something that um I worked as a as a a peer colleague uh shoulder-to-shoulder with Nicole for a few years and just watched from the peripheral her do do her thing, right? And been so grateful to been a able to do that in my new role. Um I am and I tell her every single day and I mean this with all that I have and if you are a leader on this call and you have a clinician in your in your um AO or your agency know that I know for a fact that my voice is her voice in a room that she’s not in. Every single day I get called to a room that I know she’s not going to be in there with me. So for me to have that relationship with Nicole where I can pick up the phone, she can trust me and in turn reciproc I can reciprocate that I trust her implicitly. I know that I’m going to represent her thought, her professionalism, her her whatever it is surrounding the incident or the program. I’m going to be in a room she’s not in. And um it’s critical that we continue to learn every single day uh from them. And I do that with Nicole. And I’m grateful, I want to say publicly for the relationship I have with her. She is a phenomenal professional in this field. LCSO is grateful to have her and um proud to have her. So um I appreciate that I I’ve learned so much in this hour myself and so I’m grateful for each of you, but Nicole, publicly I want to say thank you and I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much to both of you. And we really I really thought it was important we include them because I you know I’ve done this long enough. You know it it’s really helpful to hear firsthand not just from us saying yes you need a clinician. We’re the clinicians. Um but hearing leadership say look we made this investment and it was worth it for us. Um you know Nicole’s been in her role longer than I have. I’ve only been here a year and a half. Um, and you know, I think all I need from this job, um, is I love when they tell me like, “We’re so happy you’re here.” When something happens, and they feel they’re supported, they can support their member. Um, that’s what’s really important. So, I know we’re starting to run out of time. There’s a ton of questions in the chat. Um, so really briefly, I saw some questions about how to identify the right clinician. Um, and I also saw some great answers. Ask your members. Ask them who’s worked for them. Ask them who they feel understands first responders. Um I I will say not every clinician is going to be ready to leave their practice and jump into this role. Um it was a fit for me. So I’m sure it might it you find the right person, it’ll be the right fit. Um and I know there’s also, you know, even if you can’t fully embed somebody that won’t work for you right now. Um there’s, you know, the the the BAP has um I think some information about I I believe it’s clinician response teams and having that kind of piece. So it can look different for every department and I I know that um the team at Second Alarm can provide that assistance for you to figure out um whether you’re I saw some questions about like volunteer departments as well. So so it can be you know peace meal and the same thing you can start small. When I looked at the B hop, when I first landed on Second Alarm in my searches and I looked at the B hop, I was like, “Oh, wow. This is a lot.” Um, so it it’s like everything else, you got to eat the elephant one bite at a time. And and I started with peer support. That’s where I saw that we had already started um before I got here. And it’s just grown from there. Um and you just scale it with the demand of the organization. I do want to talk about um integrating into the department because I I want to be very honest and I’m old enough that I I didn’t come in here with rosecolored glasses thinking everybody was going to accept me with with open arms. I knew it was going to take time and I’m a year and a half in and I feel like very recently, maybe the last 3 months, when I walk into a station, it’s now, hey, sunshine’s here, instead of I got to wash the truck, I got to go over here, like running out of the room from me. Um, and I was actually uh just tell you a quick funny story talking to one of the captains um the other day after I had come out for a critical debrief and we were talking about his family. and he was giving me an update on his daughter and um you know I said to him I said this is this is funny we’ve we’ve you know a year and a half and now we’re here and he goes what do you mean and um I reminded him that the first time I introduced myself to him and came to his station and talked about what I was there for um he he very quickly said what are you going to do you can’t help us this is the job um and now he calls me to come out there and and work with his crew and his members um So, it takes time. Um, be honest with the clinician that that it’s going to be maybe a little uphill battle. Um, for the clinicians in the room, you know, it’s all about building rapport and trust just like it is an individual um individual treatment. It takes time and and this is a uh group that definitely takes a little extra time and convincing. Um, but when you show up and you prove to them you’re there for them, um, and I know it’s going to be different in every every department, but I get to know them outside of an emergency so that when I show up at 3:00 a.m. after a pediatric code, I’m not some stranger to them that that they think is evaluating them under a microscope. I’m a familiar person that they know they can trust, that they can talk to, that it’s going to stay confidential, and and I’m going to do everything I can to support um and help them. So, um yeah, I’m going to pass it over to Nicole to round up, round off, excuse me, and um she’s also going to talk about tracking outcomes because we’re kind of on the starting end of that and and she’s been up and running a little longer and can speak to the outcomes. Yeah, I was just going to affirm everything that Sunshine is saying. This is the ultimate like we’re trained to meet a client where they’re at, right? Like this is the ultimate like literally meeting the client where they’re at. Like we can’t ask people to come and see us. We have to go to them to build rapport. And so integrating with the department, if you are an organization that is that has just hired somebody or is looking to hire somebody, it might seem like why, you know, are we going to let you spend the first couple of months pretending like you belong on a crime scene because you don’t. Trust me, it works. Like trust me, they do belong there. And it is nothing more than your clinician learning about the role and the stressors. Um but then also letting your people learn about the clinician as a person that they’re just there that they are there to learn that they just want to be able to, you know, BS with everybody and joke around and talk and just be a normal person. It’s not a three-headed monster that sits in the therapy office and you come in and like lay on the couch and talk about your childhood problems. Like, you know, we have to we have to break all of that down. So, um, again, just Sunshine talked about the importance of integrating into the apartment. Christy talked about it, but I just want to please know there is so much value. Um, yes. So, the tracking the outcomes, there was a question about that one. And then also, um, so our agency does track outcomes through utilization of our program. We um use key performance indicators to kind of uh or or to be able to gather data on what we are doing. Um it’s a little bit harder to measure the is it working, but I will say we’re we’re getting to that. Um but some of the KPIs that we track are the number of wellness uh hosted events. So the number of events that we host agencywide. We don’t count like trainings as that because it’s it’s it’s basically things that are open to everybody that they have the choice to utilize or not. The things we require them to be at like different trainings we don’t count. Um but in our our key performance indicators, one of the the things that we track is the number of events that’s hosted. Um we also track attendance at those events. So we keep track of, you know, five people showed up to yoga class versus 35 people showed up to crochet. I’m not lying. That 100% has happened on several occasions. So, um, think outside the box. Sometimes it’s wild the things that will happen. Uh, we also track our peer support contacts. So, we don’t track anything about the contact itself. Who, what, when, where, why, none of that. We just track that it happened. So, we have our peer support team members enter the data um to support that this was a peer support interaction that I had. Um, another one of our KPIs is our EAP utilization. So, you heard Christie speak to the amazing increase um in EAP that we’ve seen over the years. That is something that I am willing to spend every dollar of my budget on is let’s let’s get these people into to see a counselor. And we have had an incredible influx in utilization of EAP. So we track um utilization of EAP. Nothing about who it is, what they did, just literally the number of sessions that I’m invoiced for. Um trying to think if there’s any other we track our volunteer chapency stats. I saw a question about volunteer chapency and we can dig more into that if there is interest. But um essentially we have a volunteer chaplain program here at the agency. we they fall under the umbrella of wellness part of that like that be HAP model they’re just another resource that is available to people another leg of the wellness stool um but they also input their contacts that they have with people um trying to think Christie am I missing anything else that we track our KPIs our EAP volunteer chapency number of events we have oh and we do track our annual wellness briefing so at our agency See, we have mandatory annual mental health uh check-ins. It is psychoeducation, not clinical therap. They’re not therapeutic services. They are not assessments. It is a psychoeducation check-in that is mandatory for all of our sworn members. That um has been in place for about two years. And so right now we track the utilization of that. how we basically track like how many appointments we have. Um in October we will be presenting on some of the outcomes that we’re drawing from that. So we’re looking at um our risk management reports. We’re looking at our use of sick leave. We’re looking at our use of uh force response to resistance. Uh administrative investigations. We’re looking at um a bunch of different data points since pre and post implementation of our annual wellness briefings to try to draw some sort of you know is this working? Is this helping? So more to come on that. I don’t know what we’re going to have uh I don’t know how that’s going to look at this point. Um but we have done really we’ve had we’ve had really great survey uh feedback and response from people. So another data point that we’re using in that research is looking at um people’s anidotal experiences. So are they more willing to use EAP? Are they more familiar with the services? Do they feel that their annual wellness, their mandatory mental health check-in is actually confidential? Those types of things. So I know that that was a lot, but um I think it’s really really important to validate the work that we’re doing to show you know we we are respecting confidentiality. We are not putting anybody’s personal information out there, but we do have means to show there is a need for this position. Um, and and why this is an important investment for your organization. Absolutely. Crystal, you can go to our last slide. Um, so we have our contact information there if anybody is interested in reaching out. As I said before, Second Alarm is an amazing resource um as you’re building things out. Um luckily I had I knew Brandy before, so it was easy for me to reach out once I found her there and and she connected me. Nicole was one of the first people I talked to um as well. So reach out to them, reach out to other departments that are doing it or doing some piece you’re interested in. I think that’s one thing about first responder culture is sometimes we silo and we don’t talk to each other and it’s so important um you know to talk to each other learn from each other don’t reinvent the wheel that’s working you know um and same thing I know a lot of people talked about um you know how do I convince my leadership um you know it may be leaders talking to leaders as well like saying yep we invested in this and and I’ll never go back again. Um because if you have a good clinician, we’re going we’re going to prove we can help. We just have to get in get that get our foot in the door. Luckily, our foot’s in the door and and hopefully we’re never going back. Um but yeah, I don’t know, Brandy or Crystal, if I know there’s a brief time for some questions if there’s anything you feel like we didn’t answer that we can help with. Yeah, absolutely. I’ve been tracking them. Thank you all for the amazing discussion um both to our presenters, to the leadership of the agencies that have joined and um to those who are discussing in the chat. There’s so many good as you as you noted already answers to a lot of the questions from the other participants and we appreciate that. Um so one of the first questions that you all really did address in uh after this question was posted but I just want to make sure that we get this piece of it. Um, can you explain the different daily activities with average hours per week of the role being embedded? So, you talked about the roles, but can you talk about, you know, what do you spend most of your time on? Yeah. So, for for me, it is I’m a full-time employee of the sheriff’s office. I I work here 40 plus hours a week. normal. Um, and most most weeks are normal Monday through Friday, 8 to 5ish, but we always, like Sunshine mentioned, like we’re always available for critical incidents or to help um, you know, with after hours events, things like that. Um, I will I think so for me, my role is a little bit different because our program, our wellness program, uh, takes a holistic approach to wellness. So we utilize the eight dimensions of wellness and we base all of our education, support, resources, training on all eight of those dimensions. Um and so in my role I go beyond that behavioral health um that that behavioral health umbrella. So we everything that um I of course uh that’s the bulk of what I do because that’s my area of expertise and my passion and what I am I try to have that as kind of the foundation for everything. Um but in my role we also oversee all of the physical wellness programming, financial wellness support resources and mechanisms um spiritual wellness with our chapency programs, the social uh wellness angle with our family support, our retirey support. So um we we base the daytoday on those eight dimensions of wellness and making sure that we have resources and education for employees that fit within each of those dimensions. Um, and then like we showed on the duties and roll slide, I think that’s the breakdown a really great breakdown of like the behavioral health component. Um, which is a really important, you know, avenue that your employee or that your organization can go. Um, but like Sunshine mentioned, you can scale it to what your agency needs. And so for us, um, it’s more comprehensive than just the mental wellness part. Yeah, I think Nicole summed it up pretty well. Um, and and we didn’t I think we kind of skipped over which was probably my fault because I get talky. Um, you know, depending on the size of the organization, too. So, right now, um, we’re still in I’ve been here a year and a half. Um, so we haven’t expanded our program yet. Um, we have about uh close to 200 members um that we’re serving. And I know Nicole, you have upwards of you have 500 total. We are at um about 700 total. We are 500ish sworn law enforcement and then the others are our civilian, but like I mentioned earlier, those are um our victim advocates, our civilian, our crime scene analysts, our our intel. Those are all highly highly um you know exposed to trauma and stress. So we we serve about 700 people. Yeah. So different sizes. You’re going to have different needs. It’s definitely a 40hour plus a week job. Um you know for a a clinician um you know my day looks different every day which I I love. I’m I’m not behind a desk. Um you know another difference Nicole and I Nicole is non-uniformed. I’m uniformed. Um, I am very comfortable in a uniform and I was very happy to give up my heels and suits when I came here. Um, but I also think it really helps me with them as well. If I came in here all dressed up every day, I think I I would have an even harder time. So, for me, it works. And like I said, I’m used to uniform, so it’s comfy. Um, but every day is different. Um, I visit stations every day. I have some other pieces to my job that aren’t related to this program that I work on as well right now. So, a few hats. Um, and probably depending on the week, some weeks I get called out in the middle of the night twice. Some weeks, you know, go a week or two goes by, I don’t get called out. It just it just depends. Awesome. Thank you. That was very helpful and comprehensive. Do you have any advice for a clinician that would like to be embedded with a lo local fire department? Um gosh, that’s an interesting So, Brandy knows how I did not get here initially to do this this role. Um, but I working with first responders and trauma, I I knew I wanted to develop and and get the chance to um bring a program to a first responder organization. I tried with some other agencies. It just wasn’t the right timing for them. Um, fire rescue ended up wanting a a clinical social worker for another program. And at my first interview, I said, I’ll come develop this program. I’m happy to do it. I love doing program development, but I want you to know that this is my goal. This is what I want to do. Um and and the chief said, “Okay, well, we can work on that.” And um a couple things happened probably within the first six months of me being here with our members and cuz somebody asked like it’s so so many times um departments recognize this need unfortunately out of a tragedy. Um, luckily I was already here and these things that happened um, I was able to intervene and really show success. So it was I got my foot in the door and then things happened and I was able to, you know, to say, “Hey, look, see, I knew this would work and they got to see it in real time.” Um, it’s not always that easy, right? But I would say develop a relationship with your fire department or whatever first responding agency you think is going to be your population of focus and get yourself as clinically trained. I I always say never stop learning. You can never go to enough trainings. Um Crystal knows I’m always signed up for stuff and I I may not make them all but I’ll track her down and be like I need that video. um you know so if you’re not yet in a department get yourself trained become educated and um get friendly with them. Yeah. I think a really great way also is ride alongs. So civilian community members, you don’t have to be part of an agency. You can do ride alongs just as a member of your community. Um so do that. just go ride with the agency that you want to eventually maybe work with or eventually work for and build the relationships and start the conversations. What do you guys do for wellness? How do you support your employees mental health? Just learning more about it. Um I think that that is a great way. I know that there’s like the cultural competence trainings that someone has mentioned in the chat. Um taking those generally has a ride along element to them. So whether it’s through UCF restores or some of the other uh cultural competence trainings that are coming up um and certifications, they usually have a ride along component which in order to finish the training, you have to embed yourself with an organization and spend some time. So that that is that is a way if you’re pursuing the training um reaching out to them and saying, “Hey, I’m doing this training and I need a ride along as a part of it.” having that conversation. What does your wellness look like? And and you can kind of go from there. So, I think ride alongs is a really good way. All right. Thank you.
Fire service and law enforcement agencies, along with other first responder organizations, increasingly recognize the importance of behavioral health programs to support employee wellness. Embedding a licensed mental health professional within your department is a critical next step in strengthening these programs. With a holistic approach to wellness, licensed mental health professionals bring unique expertise, skills, and abilities that enhance resilience, improve access to care, and support the overall mental health of your personnel.
This session will explore how an embedded clinician can empower agencies—especially within fire and law enforcement services—to proactively manage mental wellness programs, adapt to the evolving demands of the field, and stay informed on the latest developments in behavioral health. Participants will gain practical insight into how clinicians can help tailor wellness initiatives to their agency’s values, mission, and needs, ensuring long-term program success and improved responder well-being.