First Responders Mental Health Awareness: Breaking the Barriers

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The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) is pleased to announce a First Responders Mental Health Awareness Webinar: “Breaking the Barriers."

Description:

This presentation will highlight a few chapters from Dr. Ron Rufo’s book, Breaking the Barriers. He will address the challenges that police officers and first responders encounter daily. It is crucial to find effective tools to manage the trauma and critical incidents they experience throughout their careers.

In Dr. Rufo’s opinion, all police officers and first responders are dealing with some sort of post-traumatic stress from their professional experiences. Many carry the burden of what they have seen and experienced without expressing their thoughts and feelings. We are human, and the only way to sustain ourselves in this demanding profession is to break the stigma surrounding emotional support and mental health care.

The primary goal of this webinar is to explain the emotional trauma police and first responders face daily and to confront the stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment.  Dr. Rufo will discuss practical solutions such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), meditation, breathing, exercise, yoga, and nutrition. This presentation will benefit all active and retired police officers and first responders, helping them achieve emotional well-being and support.

Presenter:

Dr. Ron Rufo, author of _Police Suicide: Is Police Culture Killing Our Officers_, retired as an officer from the Chicago Police Department with 22 years of service. He received his doctorate in 2007 from Argosy University. For most of his career, Dr. Rufo has been actively involved as a peer support team leader for the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) of the Chicago Police Department. He has had specialized training in police suicide prevention and is a member of the Critical Incident Team. He is delighted to be a keynote speaker for the Badge of Life, whose mission is to educate and train law enforcement and all first responders about mental health and suicide prevention. Ron is also a proud member of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).

Who Should Attend:

This training is open to all first responder groups, including, but not limited to, law enforcement, fire/EMS, EMTs, dispatchers, and corrections. In addition, it is open to retired first responders as well as civilian peer support and mental health clinicians who are culturally competent in first responder wellness.

Partial In-service Credit:

Partial In-service Credit (PIC) for Virginia law enforcement officers will not be available. Participants will receive a certificate  of attendance upon completion of the course evaluation.

Cost and Registration:

There is no fee to attend this training, however, pre-registration is required. 

Please note that the DCJS registration system does not have the capacity to sort eligible from ineligible registrants. Therefore, anyone who registers will receive a confirmation. It is the responsibility of the DCJS assigned course director to review the roster and make a final determination on acceptance into the course. Registrants not accepted will be notified via the email address provided during registration.