By Joel Sams<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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,\u00a0visit the NEMA YouTube Channel<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The March 25 session was presented by AT&T\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFirst responders face threats at a rate that far exceeds the general population,\u201d Courie said. \u201cThat\u2019s nature of being the individual that\u2019s willing to run toward the fight [\u2026]. 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\u2019t think that\u2019s correct.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Threats can cause injury, Courie said, but she stressed to the audience that traumatic experiences don\u2019t diminish the people who experience them. Instead, they can be inflection points for growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Courie used the 10-4 affirmative signal to illustrate strategies for resilience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI 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,\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One big help during his post-diagnosis phase has been a service dog named Roy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRoy was actually named for a WWII veteran that was killed in action,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cHe\u2019s really helped me a lot. \u2018How?\u2019 you may ask. Whenever I get into episodes, it could be an angry episode or flashbacks or anything, he alerts me and essentially says, \u2018Hey, dude, something\u2019s up with you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mendoza shared with the audience that, while he has made progress and is stable, resiliency is an ongoing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis PTSD thing is just not a chapter,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a life-long journey, if you will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n —<\/p>\n\n\n\n To view recordings of the Emergency Management Virtual Learning Lab series, visit the NEMA YouTube channel: youtube.com\/user\/NEMAforyou.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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,\u00a0visit the NEMA… Read More »Wellness for Emergency Managers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[124,19],"tags":[168,183,166,164,165],"class_list":["post-315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-csg-affiliated-organizations","category-webinars","tag-emergency-management","tag-first-responders","tag-national-emergency-management-association","tag-nema","tag-nema-virtual-learning-lab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}