TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and PTSD...
mental health struggles that first responders are not immune to. That's where 2nd Alarm Project comes in...they're a behavioral health resource focusing on awareness and prevention.
2nd Alarm Project is working with the Tallahassee Fire Department on maintaining a strong peer support group...so when firefighters return home from duty, like many did last week from Surfside,
they have a way to cope.
Lance Butler, the Peer Support Team Leader at the Tallahassee Fire Department, said that every call to action has an impact especially "involving a large loss of life like the recent Surfside collapse or even a call dealing with kids or anyone that we feel like something's happened to them that was too early or they didn't deserve what happened to them... these kinds of issues don't discriminate it can happen all across the realm of first responders whether you're brand new or you're just getting ready to retire."
Butler added that their goal is to eliminate stigma...and that a diagnosis of a mental health issue is not the end...there is a road to recovery. 2nd Alarm Project also works with the families of first responders... click here for more.
