Arizona Department of Public Safety - Responder Resilience Series

1.  First to Respond, Last to Seek Help

First Responders are regularly exposed to acute trauma that can lead to physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion of the body and mind. In response to the high intensity of your career, the accumulation of traumatic stress injuries, concentration, judgment, sleep, and even relationships are negatively affected. Over time, many develop an unhealthy reliance on alcohol or other substances to cope, while also experiencing mental health issues like post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSI), depression, and anxiety.

Objectives

•  Learn the importance of prevention and resiliency from the beginning of a career
•  Causes, signs, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress injuries
•  How PSTI affects first responders and their families
•  Explore what can be done to heal, prevent further damage, and create a new “Brain Health” culture

2. Cultivating Resilient Responders

This course will help you identify different types of resilience that arise from effectively managing stress and challenges you face in your career. You will also learn how to implement tools in your work and home life to become more resilient.

Objectives

•  Identify the four types of resiliency
•  Assess your current level of functioning in your work and home life
•  Recognize how your experiences can improve resilience
•  Construct a list of positive signs that you have vicarious resilience

3.  Legitimate Leadership

This course provides practical tools to help ensure that participants are a legitimate and respected leader, and not merely “managing the chaos.” Participants will learn how to display assertiveness that fosters trust and improves both their performance and the performance of others in all levels of the organization. This course will provide participants with tools to help others see them as a competent and compassionate leader. Participants will also learn how to improve their work-life balance, while creating a healthier organizational culture.

Objectives

•  Solicit buy-in from employees and truly lead by example
•  Turn failures into opportunities and resilience
•  Learn ethical and legal ramifications of poor management
•  Discover ways to overcome barriers to mental wellness care for those in need
•  Enhance the leader’s natural leadership style to become an assertive leader while avoiding being viewed as a micromanage
•  Bridge the cultural gap between generations and positions
•  Make the leader’s mental wellness and first responder family life a priority