The Psychologically Healthy Fire Department: A Holistic Approach to Member Well-Being and Department Success

May 21, 2024

Incident stress, chronic exposure to trauma, higher call volume, and difficulty maintaining work-life-volunteer balance creates an environment where first responders are leaving the field and departments are finding it difficult to fill rosters. The NVFC’s Psychologically Healthy Fire Department initiative takes a holistic approach to helping department leaders better support responder wellbeing, satisfaction, and participation in the volunteer fire service. This article for Fire Engineering by Paul Bearce and Jill Holland explains.