What is Your Department Doing to Create a Healthy, High-performing Department?

June 17, 2020

The National Volunteer Fire Council is currently developing a toolkit to help fire department leaders and champions promote and support mental well-being among their members and we want to hear from you.

The Psychologically Healthy Fire Departments initiative, which will launch later this year, is being developed in partnership with the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance and the American Psychological Association and is made possible through a Fire Prevention and Safety Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Here’s how you can help:

The Psychologically Healthy Fire Department Toolkit will include brief case studies from volunteer fire/EMS organizations that have taken steps to promote and support a healthy, high-performing department.

Are you successfully addressing any of the following issues? If so, share your story to help other departments improve their efforts.

• Involving your members in problem solving and decision making and encouraging them to work together to make the department better.
• Providing training and development opportunities for your members beyond the minimum requirements. This could include additional health and safety training, mentoring and leadership development, and funding for outside training.
• Taking steps to improve the physical and mental health of your members through wellness programs, educational materials, and strong safety practices.
• Helping your members manage their competing work and life demands as emergency responders.
• Recognizing outstanding performance and service to the community.
• Ensuring a good flow of two-way communication that keep members informed and provides ways to get their input and feedback.
• Preventing and addressing problems in your department such as incivility, harassment, bullying, or discrimination.
• Promoting diversity and inclusion in your department.
• Building resilience in your personnel and working to prevent and address trauma.

We want to share examples from all types of volunteer and combination departments – large or small, rural or urban, new or well-established.

Share what has worked in your department and help others build stronger fire/EMS organizations across the country.

Next steps

Please fill out this questionnaire to share your department’s story. We’ll follow up soon to let you know if your profile is selected to be featured in the toolkit.