Due to the difficult environments EMS personnel encounter every day, and the impact of both direct and vicarious trauma, our EMS workforce has long faced a disproportionate challenge in maintaining their mental health resilience.
NAEMT, with support from FirstNet®, Built with AT&T, has developed a course to assist EMS agencies in building and supporting the mental health resilience of their personnel.
The Mental Health Resilience Officer (MHRO) course prepares EMS personnel to serve as their agency’s Mental Health Resilience Officer. In this role, the MHRO will engage with peers to develop an understanding of mental health issues and resilience; identify peers who are experiencing mental health stressors and crises; navigate peers in need to the right services for help; and support the development of a culture of mental health resilience and emotional wellness within the agency.
The course covers:
- the role of a Mental Health Resilience Officer;
- the impacts of EMS work on mental health and emotional wellbeing;
- mental health resilience at the individual, interpersonal, and agency level;
- communication strategies to engage your colleagues regarding mental health issues;
- case studies in EMS mental health;
- key elements of an effective agency EMS mental health resilience program; and
- how to build or strengthen an agency mental health resilience program; and resources to support the MHRO.
This course is designed for EMS practitioners who meet the following qualifications:
- at a minimum, current state certification or license as an EMT;
- at least three years of full-time practice (or equivalent) at the EMT level or above;
- strong interpersonal communication skills with an interest in serving in this position; and
- prior experience with critical incident stress debriefing (CISD) and/or motivational interviewing preferred.
NAEMT thanks the following subject matter experts for their contributions to this course:
- Lauren Young, LCSW
- Rob Luckritz, JD, NRP
- Bryan Nelson, MBA, NRP
- Garrett Hedeen, MHA, Paramedic
‘EMS Professionals Are Not Robots’
An Interview with an EMT-Turned-Therapist on the Importance of Teaching Mental Health