Fort Worth launches first-of-its-kind program to address first responders' mental health needs
FORT WORTH -- The City of Fort Worth is launching a first-of-its-kind program to address the mental health challenges first responders face.
The groundbreaking initiative provides early intervention and support, resiliency training, and peer support.
"We cannot continue to do good things in the community if we don't take care of ourselves," Fort Worth Fire Chief Jim Davis said.
R3 – Respond, Restore, Resolve marks a commitment from Fort Worth to give its first responders more support to better address the trauma they're exposed to every day.
"So often when people come to me, they're already in crisis," said Cliff Weaver, chaplain of the Fort Worth Fire Department. "Their marriage is falling apart, they've already been struggling with alcohol or drugs or depression, you name it."
Weaver sees firsthand the toll the job can take on mental health when responding to deadly car accidents, devastating fires and medical emergencies.
"The amount of time we're seeing moral injury and PTSD, it's like we're getting dosed with it over and over and over," Weaver said.
R3 is meant to proactively address and heal "moral injury," which the program describes as unseen, internal damage to the soul or conscience from repeated trauma.
"We just expected first responders to be all things to all people all the time – do your job, suck it up, go back to work, deal with your family also – and that's just unacceptable," Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said.
The initiative is a public-private partnership between the City of Fort Worth, Fort Worth Fire Department, Fort Worth Police Department, and the nonprofit American Warrior Association. First responders will get paid training time to attend resiliency retreats, free sessions in a confidential counseling program, and immediate help from peer support teams after difficult calls.
Some Fort Worth first responders have already been to the first retreats.
"The first group we had to kind of ask and beg guys to go and check it out," Weaver said. "Once they came back, they went back to their fire stations and police department. We didn't have to ask the next group of guys. Now they're reaching out saying, 'I need that.'"
It's part of a major culture shift to make sure police officers, firefighters, and paramedics feel that it's okay to not be okay.
"It's about being vulnerable with your emotions, about what you've gone through, the trauma you've experienced, and they come out with such a different outlook, a feeling of being understood and valued, and having the resources they need to get through," Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes said.
R3 is meant to help reverse an alarming trend. According to nationwide statistics, police officers and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty.
"To me, that says we have to do more," Noakes said. "I've got to do more."
The ultimate hope for R3 is to not only improve the mental health of first responders in Fort Worth, but to help police officers and firefighters nationwide.
"This was a missing link, so I'm not surprised this is a first here in our community," Mayor Parker said. "We want to share this story across Texas and across the country, because our first responders, no matter where they're living, deserve this type of wellness initiative."