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Suicide in the American Fire Service
The following is a news release for all firefighters
North American Fire Fighter Veteran Network on the web at firefighterveteran.com will be in attendance at a symposium on suicides in the fire service to be held on July 12th and 13th in Baltimore Md. The symposium is hosted by Everyone Goes Home Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives Section 13. Leading researcher/practitioners will be in attendance including representatives of the following fire and EMS constituency organizations:
International Association of Fire Fighters, AFL-CIO
International Association of Fire Chiefs
National Volunteer Fire Council
National Associations of EMS Physicians
National Fire Protection Association
North American Fire Training Directors
Women in Fire and Emergency Services
National Association of Fire Chaplains
Key Presenters include:
Thomas Joiner, Ph.D.
The Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Psychology
Florida State University
Matthew K. Nock, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Psychology
Harvard University
Leading authority on epidermiology of suicide with prior research in public safety populations
Alan L. Bermann, Ph.D.
Executive Director
American Association of Suicidology
Authority on current best practices in suicide prevention programming
This is an historic opportunity to finally start the rig rolling in the direction of suicide prevention and understanding in the services.
The first step in addressing the issue is to invite leading researchers and practitioners with established expertise to help us set an agenda for building consensus models. North American Fire Fighter Veteran Network on the web at firefighterveteran.com has been identified as being part of the overall discussion. We will be there with our F.I.R.S.T. S.T.E.P. H.O.P.E. program along with the introduction of a new model program titled "F.I.R.E.S. Within". Firefighter Increased Risk Exposure to Suicide.
Additional information will be posted after the symposium on firefighterveteran.com
Get connected to stress education and understanding under section 13 of Everyone Goes Home of the Fire Fighter Life Safety Initiatives from the National Fallen Fire Fighter Foundation
Shannon H. Pennington
North American Fire Fighter Veteran Network
care for the caregivers
Ex IAFF 26 year Career firefighter
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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Unfortunately, this topic is a reality for the fire service. Much needs to be done to shed more light on this subject. Having lost more than one of my friends and past coworkers, one just last week, I'm left feeling helpless and wondering, what could I have done to prevent this? We need to do more, a lot more to work toward helping our brothers and sisters affected by this job we love so much.
Mike
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Permalink Reply by joemac on
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Suicide is the result when the ability to cope is overwhelmed by the severity or duration of pain.
We all deal with our own personal pain in different ways. Some people feel the need to talk about it and they're open to help from others.
Some need to keep it inside, deep inside. They may feel that opening up will only bring others down, and they'd rather bear the burden on their own.
We all need to help each other, as well as being open, ourselves.
Talking about whatever bothers us is the first step towards strengthening our coping skills. We're not in this alone, and we need to act accordingly.
I lost my 33 year-old son to suicide, three years ago.
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Permalink Reply by Barry Greer on
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See piece on pipenozzle.com concerning suicide last week of 31-year-old Philly firefighter: http://pipenozzle.com/?cat=338 Every fire department, large and small, needs access to CISM and CISD.
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