Jeff Dill, founder of the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance, has validated over 2,200 firefighter and EMS suicides in 16 years Okaya. In this conversation, he discusses the realities of mental health in the fire service and explores the role AI may play in early detection and prevention, while emphasizing that behind every statistic is a life worth saving.
Mental well-being has become a critical operational issue for fire service leaders. Okaya CEO Gregory Menvielle sat down with retired Battalion Chief Robert Avsec of the Fire Service Psychology Association to discuss the challenges fire chiefs face with their teams' mental wellness and explore how departments can shift from reactive crisis intervention to proactive mental readiness.
The Silent Alarm: Breaking the Silence on Firefighter Mental Health
The numbers tell the story: posttraumatic stress symptoms in firefighters directly impact job performance through poorer sleep and reduced resilience, leading to slower processing speeds and compromised decision-making when seconds matter most.
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