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Online Trainings
This 1-hour online training course was developed to help first responders cope with the stressors involved in the opioid crisis.
Specifically for fire and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel, this hour-long online course covers occupational stressors, mental health and substance use issues that are more common among fire and EMS personnel, individual and organizational resilience, and stress management. The course is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Pre-hospital Continuing Education (CAPCE), which reviews and approves trainings for continuing education credit for EMS professionals.
Publications for First Responders
These print materials may help responders prepare for a disaster response and recover after one has ended. Several of the items are available in languages other than English.
- Helping Staff Manage Stress When Returning to Work: Tips for Supervisors of Disaster Responders (Spanish)
- Effects of Trauma on First Responders: A series of articles in The Dialogue, a publication from SAMHSA.
Crisis Lines for First Responders
Crisis Text Line
First responders can text BADGE to 741741 for counseling support for mental health crises. Available 24/7.
Frontline Helpline
866-676-7500. Former responders offer support to first responders and their family members who are struggling with trauma.
Hero’s Warm Line
844-833-HERO. Available for first responders, their families, and their friends. Offers resources and confidential peer-support services.
Resources for Family Members of First Responders
- Fire/EMS Helpline: 1-888-731-FIRE. A confidential, 24-hour helpline designed to meet the needs of firefighters, EMTs, rescue personnel, and their families.
- Safe Call Now: 206-459-3020. A 24-hour confidential crisis line for all public safety employees, emergency services personnel, and their family members nationwide.
- Strategies to Manage Challenges for EMS Families: Offers information about the challenges EMS families face and how to manage those challenges.
- First Responders Children’s Foundation – Free therapy sessions for children of first responders in California, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Tennessee and Texas. Bereavement assistance, scholarships, and other forms of financial assistance
- Frontline Professionals, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): Offers resources and tools designed specifically for first responders and their family members.