We
spend a great deal of time, money, and energy trying to protect from and
prevent cancer in firefighters. Yet, the Washington State Department of
Retirement Systems (LEOFF) reports that there have been three times as many disability
retirements due to stress injury than to cancer. Conditions related to Post
Traumatic Stress Injury are the third leading cause of medical retirements in fire
& law enforcement in Washington state.
Can
you protect yourself and your team from stress related illnesses?
Is
there PPE our department should be using for stress?
The
PPE for stress is not equipment you use, but instead involves training and
practice of skills. Chaplain Services Network has developed a two-hour training designed to help you
learn how to prevent, endure, and recover from stress related injury.
Most
people in our field of work have a flu shot to build resistance to contracting
the flu virus. Research has shown that you can build RESISTANCE to stress
injury and become more RESILIENT to stress related problems. Our training will
cover:
1.
The
Physiological/Biochemical Nature of
Stress
2.
Building
Resistance to Stress
3.
How
to Become Stress Resilient
4.
Recovery
from
Stress Injury
This
workshop is led by Chaplain Bill Lotz, D.Min.,
CCISM,
a regional leader in Critical Incident Stress Management and is open to all
regional emergency service agencies.
