Grace McAlister
ECB Publishiing, Inc.
“Our first responders are certainly heroes, but they are still human. They are regularly answering calls that impact their safety, sense of humanity and justice and capacity for empathy. Every day they respond to tragedy. Consequently, first responders and dispatchers have higher rates of relationship issues, alcohol or drug abuse, and suicide attempts and completions.”
- Dr. Christine Cauffield,
CEO of LSF Health Systems
Roughly 30 percent of first responders will develop a behavioral health condition during their careers; firefighters reportedly have higher suicide attempt and ideation rates than the general population. Additionally, 125 to 300 law enforcement officers are lost to suicide annually.
As a result of these solemn statistics, a new first responder peer support program, Stay Fit For Duty, was implemented to drop those numbers. LSH Health fronted the program, developed by trained peer specialists who are current or former first responders or military members. The program includes 20 Northeast and Northern Central Florida counties, including Hamilton, Lafayette, Suwannee and Madison Counties. The specialists provide confidential and free support to first responders and their family members.
LSF Health was awarded a grant to help pay for the program from the Department of Children and Families in 2022. LSF Health Systems was one of six providers in the state to receive the grant to create a local first responder peer service.
There are many definitions of first responders. This program is designed for current or former firefighters, police officers, sheriffs, EMS personnel and emergency dispatchers. However, if you don’t fall into one of these lines of service or live outside one of the counties served, Stay Fit For Duty will connect you to other support services.
Whether the problem is your job as a first responder or aspects of your personal life that add to your load, you can talk privately for free with someone who has been there.
All you have to do is dial 211. This is the gateway to peer support and other community resources. Next, you will need to answer a few screening questions. You will then be paired with a first responder peer specialist within 24 hours of the call. Your peer specialist will schedule a confidential phone or video conference appointment and listen to what is going on with you and your family. They can also connect you to any other resources you may need. The specialist will follow up with regular check-ins for up to six months.
Jake Bratten is a retired Sergeant of the former Avon Park Police Department and a peer support specialist with the LSF Health Systems program. Braten says one of his challenges as a law enforcement officer was “responding to a call dealing with an extremely traumatic and violent situation and not having the time to process what you just experienced. Then, before you know it, you’re sent to another scene of an equally or more traumatic situation.” Bratten says he did not talk about the trauma he witnessed and mostly bottled up his emotions, which negatively affected him, not only in his work, but also in his personal life.
“First responders need to know that someone has their back and is here for them 24/7. They need peers who have fought the fight and have been in the arena. When I was on the job, there weren’t programs like this. We kept it to ourselves because we didn’t want to be labeled as ‘weak.’ I’m happy to say it’s no longer like that,” Bratten said.
John Oldham, retired Chief of Support Services with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, told Riverbend News the “constant exposure to human distress, tragedy and trauma” law enforcement officers face has often been overlooked in the past. “It has only been in the last decade that we’ve started to recognize the damage that it does to our psychological well-being,” He stated. “We know that this cumulative exposure can negatively affect who we are both on and off the job and the kind of person we are when we come to our families. Over time, negative marital interactions frequently end in disconnection, divorce and even domestic violence.”
First responders can reach out to peers in their agencies or other agencies with peer support specialists at StayFitforDuty.org.