Webinar Information

The Changing Picture of A Career As A First Responder

Live interactive webinar that will cover First Responder Mental Health and Wellness.  This webinar will also be recorded in case you cannot attend the live webinar.  Registration is required.  Click on the Find Out More button for further details.

Grief and Loss in the Front-Line

Live interactive webinar that will cover First Responder Mental Health and Wellness.  This webinar will also be recorded in case you cannot attend the live webinar.  Registration is required.  Click on the Find Out More button for further details.

Married with PTSD

Live interactive webinar that will cover First Responder Mental Health and Wellness.  This webinar will also be recorded in case you cannot attend the live webinar.  Registration is required.  Click on the Find Out More button for further details.

About this Webinar: For most Americans, finances represent a leading cause of stress. Our first responder and military communities are no different in this regard. The most common approach is to seek more income, but this rarely fixes anything and often does not secure the track toward meeting our short to long-term financial goals. The great news is that life simply does not have to be this way any longer! No matter where you stand today with your finances, you can DO BETTER. Mission Ready Finances is here to help guide you onto a path of restored financial hope, peace and security. In this presentation, we will be sharing proven and actionable steps that each and every person can follow to make improvements to their financial resiliency and effectiveness, regardless of their age or current financial standing. Following the presentation, our MRF speaker will open up the floor and field questions from participants. Make the decision, today, to improve your financial standing in life. If not today, when? 

About this Webinar: Mike is a Team lead with the Seattle Fire Departments Critical Incident Stress Management Team, which provides basic and immediate mental health assistance to firefighters, military, and civilians in the wake of high impact stressful situations. Mike will take you on his life journey and describe how he grew from the traumatic incidents he endured throughout his life and how you can make a positive change for yourself and others. Mike was recently featured in "Upstanders", a collection of short stories created by Starbuck's, showing various courageous people in America. Mike Washington has been a Seattle firefighter for 25 years. Mike is HAZMAT, Aircraft Rescue Firefighter and Wildland Fire certified. Mike is also a member of the Puget Sound USAR Team. Mike is a member of the Seattle Fire Departments Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM ) response team.. Mike was recognized by the Seattle Fire Department as Community Service Member of the Year in 2016. Mike is also the Washington State Fire Service Representative at the Washington State Fusion Center. Mike served a tour at the National Counter Terrorism Center in Washington. Mike is a retired Marine Corps Master Sergeant serving a total of 23 years of service and 4 combat tours. Mike is a member of Team Rubicon, an internationally recognized veteran’s volunteer disaster relief organization. Mike holds a Master of Strategic Intelligence from American Military University.

About this Webinar: While PTSD has been an official diagnosis since 1980, it is still misunderstood and often overlooked despite its prevalence in the first responder community. A common misconception is that first responders have more resiliency than the general population when it comes to traumatic events. Unfortunately, training and time on the job can’t erase the sights, sounds, and outcomes one sees on a daily basis. Many silently suffer from the cumulative effects of repeated exposure to traumatic events. Many think they are fine and continue on in their careers until one day, one call changes everything. We will explore the lack of closure, the need to move on to the next call for service, and the negative impact that has on the individual. We will discuss the differences between acute stress disorder, PTSD, and cumulative PTSD. We'll explore how the job not only impacts the individual but the family as well. We'll provide recommendations on how agencies can train first responders for these types of incidents and promote debriefings of catastrophic incidents, and highlight the importance of being a proactive agency. We will provide recommendations and prevention strategies for coping with and handling stress, both for yourself and others, as well as when to seek help and get appropriate treatment.

About this webinar: Mark's presentation will include his personal story and issues he endured throughout his 33 year career as a first responder. You will learn about methods in which can help prevent these issues and the negative impacts they have. Mark will also discuss how to identify a First Responder who is struggling and how to get them help. Mark Dibona began his Law Enforcement career in Massachusetts, June 1985. In 1993 he moved to Florida to continue his Law Enforcement career, retiring as a Patrol Sergeant in March 2019. Presently, he is the Public Information Officer and Board Member with Blue H.E.L.P. His mission is assisting First Responders with mental health issues and suicide prevention.

About this webinar: Stress is a prevalent and necessary part of life for a first responder. There is the immediate stress of responding to a call, whether it is a traffic citation, structure fire, motor vehicle accident, domestic dispute, etc. Every time a first responder receives a call and leaps into action, there are physical and psychological changes induced by the situational stress that allow him or her to perform at peak levels. There is the anticipatory stress in waiting for a call to come in. So even the "quiet" days can produce an underlying stress of waiting for something to happen. There is also the chronic stress of shift work, overtime, time lost with family, coping with changes in bureaucratic requirements, supervisors, and civilians. And obviously, there is the stress that comes from the repeated exposure to trauma that affect all first responders.Ineffective, and often harmful, methods of attempting to manage this stress are easy to fall into. Substance use, improper use of medications, anger outbursts, isolating from family and other loved ones, avoidance, etc. all generally start as ways to just get through the day, or get to sleep. But they can quickly get out of hand and cause ripple effects at work, with our families, and even our physical and mental health.However, there are better ways to cope with the stress. This presentation will cover some ways to manage stress in the middle of an emergency situation, as well as some slight changes to perspective and lifestyle that will profoundly improve your ability to manage the ever present stress in your life. Safer and more effective treatments for anxiety, insomnia, depression, and pain will also be discussed.

About this webinar:Whether you are a treatment provider for PTSD or a first responder to a traumatic event, this presentation will clarify the symptoms, treatment of, and best practices for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. You will leave with tools and knowledge of the physiological process of the brain and effective strategies to move towards recovery.  For the last 15 years, Tim has gained experienced working in clinical settings in all walks of life - children through adults, with a wide variety of mental health needs. He has worked with first responders in both an in-patient and outpatient setting. He's partnered with families and kids walking through adoptive and foster care placements, attachment therapy, and couples seeking to strengthen their marriages. He's worked in an in-patient and outpatient settings specifically with active duty and retired military service members diagnosed with substance abuse disorders, mental health issues and PTSD both combat and non-combat related. In addition to these services, he has a taught at the university level and also has given presentations on substance use issues as well as PTSD. In his spare time, Tim is outdoors, trail running and spending time with his family. Tim's current certifications include: EMDR, Trauma-focused CBT, Prolonged Exposure Therapy, & DBT Therapy.

About this webinar: Moral injury affects every person in their lifetime but this is specifically a concern for first responders. Whereas many of us are familiar with post-traumatic stress disorder many people are unaware of what moral injury is and how it affects your ability to complete your professional expectations while protecting your personal values. Due to the overlapping symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and moral injury, many people that are experiencing moral injury may not be treated for it properly thus believe that they are failing and their treatment. With a goal of educating and supporting those who experience moral injurious events on a regular basis, this presentation is designed to educate those that it affects and provide guidance in securing appropriate treatments.

About this Webinar: This presentation is designed to help participants recognize that organizational resilience starts with a commitment to individual wellness. The overall message of "Build A Culture Not Just A Program" is supported by four driving themes: culture drives the bus, think left of bang, win by design, and everyone is a peer. This program has been scaled to fit everything from an executive briefing to a 60-minute presentation. It has also been fielded to groups of specific and mixed public safety disciplines as well as to chaplains, clinicians, health care workers and hospital staff, emergency managers and military personnel holding various levels of professional experience.

About this Webinar: A general reflection of the struggle Cody didn't know he was going through. From great times to low times and a new beginning of life and purpose. Cody was hired as a Beaumont firefighter in Oct 2000. He was married in 2004 and had a daughter in 2005. She was born in Arlington Texas, during Hurricane Rita. Cody was trapped in a house fire Dec 2007, and immediately flown to Galveston and admitted into the University of Texas Blocker Burn Unit (UTMB) where he spent 6 weeks in hospital. Cody had ten to twelve surgeries and later released to stay in a condo on the island. He was able to return to his home, Beaumont, Texas, in April of 2008. However, his rehab and surgeries continued at the Blocker Burn Unit until July of 2008. Cody returned to full duty as a firefighter in August of 2008. Through the years Cody has struggled and dealt with alcoholism and depression. He has so many people around him helping him through the years and because of their support, he is still alive!

About this Webinar: Dr. Brett Ellis shares findings and recommendations from his original research centered on first responder resilience in relation to traumatic events, how different ranks cope with symptomatic responses, encouraged practices after high acuity call types, and how leaders must enact cultural change for their people through education, empathy, and empowerment. This session will challenge participants as change leaders to seek deeper relational organizational needs, provide increased awareness to the growing epidemic of first responder suicide, and provide tangible solutions which riv

Olivia will be introducing the original intent behind the practice of yoga, why it’s beneficial specifically to public safety professionals as well as addressing the misconceptions about yoga and how these misconceptions have isolated the first responder culture from this useful tool.  Olivia will touch on the “why” and “what” of yoga.  She will familiarize on how the nervous system functions and is affected by this line work. She will explain how these effects can either be debilitating, or, by changing the experience of stress enhance abilities and longevity of one’s career as well as fulfillment in life as a whole.

Description of the Presentation: How do you handle unexpected stress and challenges in your life? If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed or anxious from events that happen to you professionally or personally, then this session is for you. You’ll pick up keys to unlock personal strength, resilience and peace that will allow you to handle life’s inevitable twists and turns. 

Description of the Presentation: Kevin Zimmerman shares his personal life experience of being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress. How he lost his family, self-admitted and now living a holistic lifestyle. 

Description of the Presentation: The following presentation introduces the basic indicators of substance use disorder and shows how and why SUD is so prevalent in the first responder workforce. Recognizing the difficulties faced by first responders who may be living with SUD and in seeking help for themselves or their peers, we provide guidance as to how to go about finding help if and when it is needed.

Description of the Presentation: What if there was a way that you could fall asleep, stay asleep and wake with energy regardless of which shift you are on?  Oh, and calm your short fuse, digestion, hypervigilance and gain back your energy, motivation and drive so that you remain calm and enjoy your time with your family AND have no trouble getting your butt in the gym?

All without prescriptions or taking more time out of your already busy day. This is exactly what Andi Clark from 911 Lifestyle does. Join our webinar to learn more!

Description of the Presentation: In this presentation, participants will learn the importance of developing and implementing a resiliency and support program for both the first responder and the first responder family. Participants will also learn how to support their first responders in building a strong and resilient physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, which can help offset some of the negative side effects a first responder career can have. 

Description of the Presentation: Seeking mental health treatment can seem strange, scary, and worrisome. It is normal to have concerns. Common questions include- 

What is therapy? 

How private is therapy, really? 

Will someone judge me or think I am crazy? 

Could seeking therapy threaten my job? 

How do I find someone who will get what I do, see and hear on the job? 

This 60-minute webinar will provide the low-down on all that you need to know about mental health treatment. A board-certified psychologist with 20-plus years’ experience working with public safety agencies and personnel will share information. Psychotherapy will be explained. You will learn how to find a culturally competent provider. Therapy myths will be debunked. You will learn benefits of mental health treatment. Confidentiality will be clarified. Therapy will be demystified. You will come away from this webinar seeing therapy as a way to cope with problems, and as a means to maintain wellness and resilience, ever so important in dealing with critical incidents and the cumulative stress present in first responder work. There will be time for questions and answers.

Description of the Presentation: While PTSD has been an official diagnosis since 1980, it is still misunderstood and often overlooked despite its prevalence in the first responder community. A common misconception is that first responders have more resiliency than the general population when it comes to traumatic events. Unfortunately, training and time on the job can’t erase the sights, sounds, and outcomes one sees on a daily basis. Many silently suffer from the cumulative effects of repeated exposure to traumatic events. Many think they are fine and continue on in their careers until one day, one call changes everything. We will explore the lack of closure, the need to move on to the next call for service, and the negative impact that has on the individual. We will discuss the differences between acute stress disorder, PTSD, and cumulative PTSD. We'll explore how the job not only impacts the individual but the family as well. We'll provide recommendations on how agencies can train first responders for these types of incidents and promote debriefings of catastrophic incidents, and highlight the importance of being a proactive agency. We will provide recommendations and prevention strategies for coping with and handling stress, both for yourself and others, as well as when to seek help and get appropriate treatment.

The ACES Study done by the CDC and Kaiser in 1997 surveyed over 17,000 people regarding Adverse Childhood Experiences and correlated those results with health outcomes. What they found was astonishing. Childhood trauma is related to 5 of the 10 leading causes of death in the US. Childhood trauma not only leaves a person predisposed to later trauma and substance use, it changes the way the brain and body function. Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that early childhood experiences serve as the underpinning to so many current mental health and substance use disorders, the treatment is not reflecting this. When it comes to first responders, many lean on drinking or substances as a means of de escalating, but also to feel ANYTHING. The collateral damage of the work-related trauma is an all-to-common numbness that leaves most feeling like an empty shell, struggling to connect even with the ones they love at home. Trauma itself hijacks the brain, flooding the brain and body with cortisol and adrenaline to activate the survival "fight or flight"  mechanism in the brain. Chronic trauma in childhood creates a similar response in adulthood trauma, an inability to feel and process emotions and a disconnection from the body. Childhood trauma creates the template that later influences the way we see the world, the way we feel about ourselves, the jobs we choose, the goals we have, and ultimately the way we respond to later trauma in our lives. This explains why one first responder may be "fine" on all calls except for one type of call where their colleagues seem to be "fine". It explains why car accidents and house fires are triggering, but someone drowning sends the person into a week long panic attack. There is still so much to learn about the brain, but understanding how childhood trauma shapes each and every person can help to mediate the effects of later trauma and free them from the numbness or anxiety that come with these heroic careers. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is one of the most empirically validated treatments for childhood trauma, negative core beliefs, PTSD and workplace trauma. I will talk more about how this revolutionary treatment is used and how to access treatment in your area.

This presentation is designed to help participants recognize that organizational resilience starts with a commitment to individual wellness. The overall message of "Build A Culture Not Just A Program" is supported by four driving themes: culture drives the bus, think left of bang, win by design, and everyone is a peer. This program has been scaled to fit everything from an executive briefing to a 60-minute presentation. It has also been fielded to groups of specific and mixed public safety disciplines as well as to chaplains, clinicians, health care workers and hospital staff, emergency managers and military personnel holding various levels of professional experience.

Police Officers, Firefighters, 911 Operators and other Emergency Service Professionals are immersed in societies trauma and they are shareholders in societies grief.  In the face of trauma and grief we have to separate ourselves from the emotions of the situation so that we can do the job that we have been sworn to uphold.  In the midst of unimaginable tragedy, first responders put their emotions to the side and provide first aid and investigative skills.  The ability to ignore, override, and push forward is a skill that is learned and utilized on a regular basis.   While this skill is invaluable and allows us to do our jobs, we pay the price on the backside of life.  The professional separation is actually a suppression of the emotions we are exposed to which creates an emotional vacuum in our psych causing our emotional equilibrium to be off kilter.   We start to lose the ability to be vulnerable and emotional connected to our loved ones.  We explain this away by thinking of vulnerability and emotions as weaknesses.  This webinar will take a close look at this process and explorer tangible and workable solutions and strategies to maintaining emotional equilibrium and connectedness with the people in our lives that matter the most.

Presentation Title: Saving Lives on Both Sides of the Call- A 9-1-1 PTSD Journey! 

Description of the Presentation: Post-traumatic stress can affect everyone in the public safety circle, including telecommunicators, in some form or another. By looking at where post-traumatic stress starts and where it has the potential to end, we can raise awareness and save lives on the first responder side of the call. After 20 years in the 9-1-1 Communications Center she was forced to leave the profession she loved because of PTSD. Your instructor will take you on her personal journey from the depths of darkness to a place of peace. In addition, this presentation will look at a PTSD timeline that includes the events leading up to PTSD, warning signs, diagnosis, ways to get help and, most importantly, how to have it but not let it have you!

Presentation Title: Complementary Treatment to Talk Therapy

Description of the Presentation: In addition to talk therapy, medications can be a tool to help with a variety of symptoms of mental health. In addition to psychiatric medications, assessing for physiologic abnormalities that can mimic or worsen psychiatric symptoms improves mental health and work toward the goal of remission.

In this session, Brian discusses the impact leadership, both good and bad, has on those who are struggling with mental health and wellness. He teaches the concept of what he calls Capital-L Leadership; a style of leadership that honours the balance and well-being of a team or organization as its greatest measuring stick. During the training, Brian walks those who want to be Capital-L Leaders through lived experience lessons and examples and provides leaders with a toolkit to understand, support, encourage, and communicate effectively with team members dealing with mental health struggles.

The goal of Bryan's presentation, "Struck Down, but Not Destroyed" is to give you some insight of his personal and professional struggles and how he learned to overcome them. Bryan didn’t grow up dreaming of working in law enforcement. It just happened. Two months into his career he was almost killed when he was attacked by an inmate who had plans to escape. For over two decades He saw the worst of society as many of you have also seen and he worked with some of the finest people in Texas. It made him stronger or so he thought. Every time he would climb to the proverbial mountain top, he would eventually fall into the valley. From struggles with his family life, his health, his faith, and the loss of friends Bryan has made it his mission to help the law enforcement community live better lives.