BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Birmingham Fire and Rescue is expanding support for its firefighters.
The Birmingham City Council recently approved paid mental health leave for members of the department. Birmingham Fire and Rescue also launched a new wellness app that is open to first responders, their families, and retirees.
Birmingham Fire and Rescue Chief Cory Moon has spent more than 25 years with the department. He said he has responded to countless emergencies, and some of what firefighters see stays with them long after a call ends.
“It’s important to me just personally. I have seen things throughout my career in the fire service. We have dealt with so many tragedies, and in the past, we just went past it and kept working. We can’t look past the incidents we see on a day-to-day basis,” Moon said.
Moon said when he became chief six years ago, he pushed to strengthen the department’s approach to mental health. That effort now includes paid mental health leave and a wellness app designed to connect firefighters to support after traumatic incidents.
The department said the app provides access to peer support and other resources to help members process difficult calls.
“We put in place a series of things, critical incident stress debriefings. We have fire fatalities, deaths involving children. We have a peer support team and a mental health and wellness app. So this mental health leave is just another tool in our toolbox to help our personnel when we have those events,” Moon said.
Moon said the paid leave is meant for situations when someone is not ready to return to duty immediately after a critical incident.
“There are times when our personnel see things, and they just cannot return to work. So if we have one of those critical incidents and personnel aren’t able to continue in their assignment, then they will be able to have that leave where they can take time to deal with that trauma,” said Moon.
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