When police, fire fighters, EMS personnel or anyone else involved with public safety start their day, there is always the risk of coming across a situation that could have a lasting effect on them. In an attempt to help alleviate the effects of traumatic events, Two Rivers Police Chief Joe Collins has implemented resiliency training, based on a model used by the United States Air Force. Collins explains how that came about.
Collins told us that the Air Force received help developing the program from the University of Pennsylvania. The program has four different domains in which they help people become more resilient, those being physical, mental, social, and spiritual.
There has been a big focus in recent years on lowering the suicide rate among military personnel. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is one of the leading causes of suicide among veterans, but PTSD is not something that only effects veterans. Anyone can suffer from its effects, for a multitude of reasons. Collins explained to us how this program can help battle the effects of PTSD.
This program is intended for public safety personnel, which is a very broad umbrella.
Speaking of families…
The resiliency training program is still very young in Two Rivers, but Chief Collins is very excited to see the effects it will have on the public safety employees and their families.
