If you’re a leader in public safety — whether in fire and rescue, law enforcement, corrections or emergency medical services — you have a profound responsibility to help your personnel maintain their mental health and well-being. You may have even been involved in setting up wellness resources for your agency, and you’ve probably encouraged your personnel to make use of these tools.
But here’s a critical question: Have you actually used them yourself?
There’s something immensely powerful about being able to say, “Try it — I’ve done it myself and I found it helpful.” Whether that means consulting with a peer support team member, speaking with a therapist, or using an app or remote mental health service, your personal experience can help turn you from a casual advocate to a true believer.
Before we dive deeper into that question, let’s do a quick review of some of the essential wellness program components.
Spotlight on Wellness
Anyone who works in pubic safety knows these jobs are difficult. The stress, long hours and recurring trauma can really take their toll. Because of this, many agencies have implemented wellness programs that provide team members access to resources they can turn to when they need help. These resources might include:
- Peer support teams: Groups of trained colleagues who provide emotional and practical support to first responders, fostering a sense of solidarity and understanding within the team.
- Chaplains: Spiritual advisors available to offer guidance, comfort and support to individuals facing personal or professional challenges, regardless of their religious beliefs.
- Post critical incident interventions: Interventions designed to help teams process and recover from traumatic events, reducing the long-term psychological impact.
- Professional, culturally competent mental health practitioners: Like those certified through Lexipol’s Clinician Training and Certification program, are trained to understand and help mitigate the unique pressures on public safety personnel, ensuring tailored and effective care.
- Telemental health services: Remote counseling options that provide convenient and confidential access to mental health professionals, eliminating barriers like travel and scheduling.
- Wellness apps like Lexipol’s Cordico app: Mobile tools that offer resources such as stress management techniques, self-assessments and direct connections to support services, empowering users to take charge of their mental health.
This isn’t just about supporting better first responders; it’s also about fostering longer careers, reducing complaints, improving retention and ultimately creating safer communities. But have you personally used these resources?
By leading from the front, testing resources and openly sharing experiences, you can inspire a cultural shift that benefits both your personnel and the communities you serve.
First, Dig Down Deep
Testing wellness resources may seem unnecessary if you don’t think you need them. But in public safety, leaders rarely start as leaders. Rather, you likely began as a recruit, absorbed months of training and faced countless challenges before stepping into your current role. Along the way, you likely accumulated trauma — the kind that can quietly weigh you down.
Has all your past trauma been resolved? It’s worth asking yourself. For most in public safety, there’s no such thing as too much therapy. Even if you “feel fine” right now, there’s a good chance addressing unresolved stress or past experiences could enhance your well-being.
So, take time to reflect. What events in your career stand out as particularly difficult? Those experiences could be a good starting point for testing your agency’s resources.
Take Stock of Your Options
Start by reviewing the wellness options your agency offers. Begin by listing all the resources available — from peer support teams to wellness apps — and take a closer look at how each is deployed and used (or underused) within your organization. Which ones are you most proud of? Which have had the greatest impact on your team?
Perhaps you’ve championed a peer support team or fought to make specialized counseling services (tailored specifically to the needs of your agency) available to those under your leadership. Reflect on which tools you’d like to see used more often or which ones you’d want to recommend personally.
Once you’ve identified all the resources your agency provides, pick one or two to test yourself as a starting point. Over time, you can expand to explore the full range of offerings to ensure you have a comprehensive understanding of each resource.
Take a Test Drive
Here’s where the rubber meets the road. Testing wellness tools requires vulnerability, but that shouldn’t deter you. Leaders who show courage in this space set a powerful example.
Peer support: If your agency has a peer support system, reach out to a peer support resource. You likely already know who is on the peer support team, so take a moment and figure out who you’d be most comfortable talking to. Meet and discuss an experience with them. Was it difficult or easy to reach out to them?
If you feel uncomfortable as a leader reaching out to your peer team, consider developing a separate peer team for leadership. Many state and regional leaders are now developing executive peer support teams — either within their agency or at the state level — to ensure they have the necessary support systems in place for executive support. It’s likely you and other leaders in your organization could benefit.
Professional counseling: Schedule an appointment with a therapist or counselor provided through your agency. You might be approaching the process out of curiosity, but try to fully engage by discussing a past experience. Use the time to discuss any challenges you’ve had or use it as an annual wellness check-up (see below). Again, this requires you to be honest and up-front about your experiences how they might have impacted you.
Annual checkups: Many agencies are incorporating annual wellness visits with a culturally competent mental health clinician as part of their overall wellness programs. Often, this involves a clinician coming into the agency to provide these (30-60 minute) checkups to all personnel over a series of days/weeks. If you haven’t made it a point to take your turn along with the rest of your personnel, it’s high time you did.
Telemental health and chaplain services: Reach out through the official channels for these resources. Be transparent about your intentions, but also give yourself space to genuinely explore what these services offer.
Testing these tools isn’t just an exercise in evaluation; it’s also an opportunity to prioritize your own well-being and quite possibly resolve some past trauma.
Evaluate Your Experience
After testing a resource, step back and evaluate. Put yourself in the shoes of a team member who might be in crisis or dealing with trauma. Ask yourself:
- How easy was it to access help?
- Were the individuals you worked with professional, compassionate and helpful?
- Did you feel heard and understood?
- Did the interaction make you want to use the resource again?
- Could you confidently recommend this resource to others?
If your experience was positive, you’re now ready to advocate for these resources with informed honesty. Share your story with your team, encouraging them to seek support when needed. Encourage other leaders to do the same. After all, when leaders normalize help-seeking behavior, it chips away at stigma.
If your experience revealed issues — whether it was unresponsiveness, a lack of compassion or another problem — view this as an opportunity to improve the system. Addressing shortcomings ensures better outcomes for everyone.
Leading by Example
The infamous stigma surrounding mental health in public safety is no secret. For first responders, the “rub some dirt in it and walk it off” attitude has persisted for far too long. One of the most effective ways to dismantle this stigma is through visible leadership.
When you, as a leader, openly discuss your use of mental health resources, you can create a ripple effect. Your willingness to prioritize wellness sends a message that it’s not just acceptable but essential to ask for help. For your personnel, this could mean the difference between suffering in silence and reaching out.
Consider the impact of sharing a story from your own experience. Imagine saying, “I was skeptical about peer support, but after trying it, I’ve found it invaluable.” Or, “I sat down with a counselor and didn’t realize how much I’d been holding onto until I started talking.” These anecdotes aren’t just motivational; they’re often transformative.
Also consider how you can build a culture of wellness. Creating a culture where wellness is at the forefront and starts at the top. Encourage your team to take mental health days when needed. Praise those who use available resources. Invest in ongoing education about mental health and stress management. By normalizing these practices, you’ll foster an environment where seeking help is seen as a strength, not a weakness.
Want to know more about Cordico, Lexipol’s wellness solution? CLICK HERE!
Looking Ahead
The journey toward wellness in public safety is ongoing. As the mental health needs of first responders evolve, so too must the resources and support systems designed to serve them. Leaders play a pivotal role in this evolution. By leading from the front, testing resources and openly sharing experiences, you can inspire a cultural shift that benefits both your personnel and the communities you serve.
Wellness isn’t just a buzzword; it’s also a commitment. And when leaders prioritize their own well-being, they set the stage for a healthier, more resilient public safety workforce.
