E.114 Addressing Mental Health Challenges in First Responders: A Journey of Awareness, Support and Healing
Finding Your Way Through Therapy
Steve Bisson
5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 August 2023
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Picture this: You're a first responder, racing against the clock to save lives, and the stress, trauma, and emotional toll are building up. How do you cope? This episode features a frank, heart-to-heart discussion with Jay Ball, a sergeant with the Framingham Police Department, and Brian Harkins, a firefighter in Stoughton, Massachusetts, who bravely open up about the mental health challenges faced by first responders.
Together, we blow the whistle on the stigma surrounding mental health and the importance of peer support. As we navigate through their personal experiences, we offer insights on how to change the culture within departments, the significance of leadership, and the power of informal debriefing. Brian, drawing from his own journey, offers an inside look at how he faced his struggles and now assists others in doing the same.
Finally, we address the often overlooked aspect of maintaining a life outside of work and the role of loved ones in supporting a first responder's mental health. From exploring non-traditional therapy options to breaking down stigmas, we aim to empower our invaluable first responders to seek help when needed. So join us, as we stand with our heroes, addressing critical issues and exploring ways to improve mental health support for those who dedicate their lives to public safety.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi and welcome to Finding Your Way Through Therapy. |
| 0:06.3 | The goal of this podcast is to demystify therapy, what can happen in therapy, and the wide |
| 0:11.5 | array of conversations you can have in and about therapy. |
| 0:16.2 | Through personal experiences, guests will talk about therapy, their experiences with it, |
| 0:21.6 | and how psychology and therapy are present in many places in their lives. |
| 0:26.8 | With lots of authenticity and a touch of humor, here is your host, Steve Bisson. |
| 0:34.2 | Bonjour tout le monde, thank you, and here's my new type of intro. |
| 0:38.9 | Welcome to episode 114, if you haven't listened to one, 13 yet, please go back and listen |
| 0:43.5 | to it. |
| 0:44.5 | Gina Moffa talks about her book, Gina Moffa talks about life, just looking forward for |
| 0:48.7 | you guys to listen to that one. |
| 0:50.3 | But today is also an exciting day. |
| 0:52.2 | I'm going to be interviewing two returning guests, one who is, I think on episode one, and |
| 0:58.6 | has been on nine times since then, J Bal, Sergeant at the Framingham Police Department in |
| 1:03.3 | Massachusetts. |
| 1:04.3 | And we're going to have Brian Harkins, who is a firefighter in Stoten, Massachusetts. |
| 1:09.8 | He's been on before with another firefighter, I know this is going to be a dynamic interview, |
| 1:13.8 | so I hope you enjoy it, and here's the interview. |
| 1:21.4 | Hi everyone, and welcome to episode 114, 114 episodes, I can't believe I've done that. |
| 1:28.1 | And there's a guy who has been on every season, but the last season, he kind of blew me off |
| 1:31.8 | last season, he's busy, he's a professor now, he's got a lot of stuff going on. |
| 1:36.9 | And of course, he obviously knows I'm joking, if not, he lives down the street, so if you |
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