Webinar Information

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.