By Joel Sams
In March, the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), a CSG affiliated organization, is hosting an Emergency Management Virtual Learning Lab series exploring topics selected by NEMA members to address timely issues in emergency management and to address lessons learned over the past year. To view the recordings of these sessions, visit the NEMA YouTube Channel.
In the final installment of its Emergency Management Virtual Learning Lab series, the National Emergency Management (NEMA) offered an in-depth look at resilience strategies for emergency management professionals and first responders.
The March 25 session was presented by AT&T’s FirstNet program. Speakers included Dr. Anna Courie, director of responder wellness at FirstNet, and Capt. Scott Mendoza, manager of strategic partnerships and business development at FirstNet.
“First responders face threats at a rate that far exceeds the general population,” Courie said. “That’s nature of being the individual that’s willing to run toward the fight […]. Too often we see these difficult experiences as a broken appendage that never repairs itself; that you are broken as a result of the work you do. And I don’t think that’s correct.”
Threats can cause injury, Courie said, but she stressed to the audience that traumatic experiences don’t diminish the people who experience them. Instead, they can be inflection points for growth.
Courie used the 10-4 affirmative signal to illustrate strategies for resilience:
- Take time to be mindful
- Exercise and eat right
- Nurture your purpose/meaning: what’s important to you?
- Fight for yourself
- Optimism: hunt the good stuff
- Unload: let go of negative thoughts, feelings and people
- Relationships: build your social community
Illustrating the importance of resilience strategies, Mendoza shared his personal story of a traumatic experience during his service as an Air Force pilot of a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA). The effects of that experience, which did not become fully apparent for several years, threatened his wellness and his relationships.
“I sought out the VA for some help, and it was through a lot of therapy and a lot of sessions where the psychiatrist diagnosed me with PTSD,” Mendoza said.
In addition to dealing with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress discorder (PTSD), Mendoza has struggled with concerns about whether his diagnosis would affect his progress in his job and how stigmas surrounding mental health would change the way people interact with him.
One big help during his post-diagnosis phase has been a service dog named Roy.
“Roy was actually named for a WWII veteran that was killed in action,” Mendoza said. “He’s really helped me a lot. ‘How?’ you may ask. Whenever I get into episodes, it could be an angry episode or flashbacks or anything, he alerts me and essentially says, ‘Hey, dude, something’s up with you.’”
Mendoza shared with the audience that, while he has made progress and is stable, resiliency is an ongoing process.
“This PTSD thing is just not a chapter,” he said. “It is a life-long journey, if you will.”
—
To view recordings of the Emergency Management Virtual Learning Lab series, visit the NEMA YouTube channel: youtube.com/user/NEMAforyou.