Are we paving the way to more firefighter suicides?
Robert Avsec
Retired battalion chief and freelance writer. Author of "Successful Transformational Change in a Fire & EMS Department: How a Focused Team Created a Revenue Recovery Program in Six Months--From Scratch"
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."--Anonymous
The following words come courtesy of my colleague at the Fire Service Psychology Association- Admin (FSPA), Dr. Kristen Wheldon, PsyD, a clinical psychologist who founded FSPA in 2017 to bring fire service leaders (like me), psychologists (like her), and other mental health professionals together to “bridge the gap between professional psychology and the fire service.” Take it away, Doc!
When a firefighter in crisis says, “I’m worth more dead than alive,” (referring to the death benefits stakeholders advocated for through Congress) has the problem--the rising number of firefighter deaths by suicide--that was meant to be resolved been worsened? (BTW, that was not a hypothetical statement. A firefighter really said that to their chief).
Are death benefits serving as a risk or protective factor for suicide?
When an inmate in California’s correctional system dies by suicide, the "cavalry is sent in [Dr. Wheldon "cut her teeth" as a clinical psychologist working in the corrections system]. There is a team of psychologists--the "cavalry-- who conduct psychological autopsies to learn what risk factors/protective factors were present and what critical periods left that person vulnerable.
The collected data is tracked so the organization knows when to provide extra care for high-risk individuals. That data is turned into an inmate-specific risk assessment tool for psychologists to use during their care to identify an inmate as being at a low, medium, or high risk for suicide. Departments do not want to be legally liable and pay money for negligence. Inmate suicide is unacceptable.
Death benefits for firefighters may set the precedent that suicide is not only acceptable but celebrated. That is dangerous.
领英推荐
The FSPA just "pulled the fire alarm" on a firefighter suicide being considered a firefighter line of duty death. Behavior is the result of our cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Psychology drives our thinking, feeling, and behavior. Fire protection engineers helped us understand why the flow path in a structure fire is important. Psychologists can help us understand the "why" behind our occupational fatalities. --Dr. Burton A. Clark, EFO, American Fire Culture: Researcher, Author, Speaker, Instructor
Call to Action
Dr. Wheldon again: We need to conduct research prior to advocating specific policies. We need to have psychologists in the room when proposing mental health legislation in the fire service.
Why not spend some of the money (if not all) on prevention? Why not spend some on a psychological autopsy team after firefighter death (e.g., like the FAA does following an aircraft crash)? Why are inmate lives worth more than firefighters? Why are psychologists not in the room when these decisions are being made?
If you—fire service leaders--want us at the table when these discussions are being held, please fill out this letter of support: https://lnkd.in/gdEJxxnV
We intend to submit it with our application to the Congressional Fire Service Institute for a seat on the National Advisory Committee.
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Best Selling Author, Keynote Speaker | Firefighter Mental Health Advocate, Philanthropist, Empath, PTSD Warrior, #PTG
11 个月I'm pretty sure there are more, many more debilitating conditions going on with - "the suicidal FF." Your death benefit concept is wrong. Try walking the talk. Here we go... mislabeling mental health issues, and shaming the despaired.