First responders establish peer support group for mental health

HILLSDALE COUNTY — First responders throughout the nation respond to a number of critical, stressful incidents each day that can have a detrimental effect on their mental health.

Fatal car crashes, structure fires, drownings and other medical emergencies take a toll on first responders with nearly 85% of them suffering from some form of mental illness over their careers.

Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Deputy Tracy Peters, the former deputy 911 director and a long-serving part-paid firefighter, is part of a 15-person team of Hillsdale County first responders working to establish a localized peer support team to help.

“On a daily basis, our first responders deal with things that may or may not stick with them,” Peters said. “This is all about mental health first response.”

The Hillsdale Area Crisis Incident Stress Management Association was borne from the lack of a dedicated debriefing team in Hillsdale County and, with the allocation of $4,500 from Hillsdale County’s mental health millage, will be trained to act as first responders to the first responders.

While the CISM team will not focus on long-term care, the peer support specialists will act as initial points of contact to their peers, a strategy widely used by the Department of Veterans Affairs when dealing with veterans mental health.

“When you go through a traumatic event on a scene, if I’m a firefighter, I want to talk to a firefighter,” Peters said.

Peters said a number of first responders who worked the fatal boating accident at Camp Michindoh in 2022 had a particularly difficult time with that incident due to the traumatic injuries suffered by a 12-year-old child.

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He pointed to the past when, in 1998, a fireworks factory explosion in Osseo had long-term devastating impacts on most first responders who worked that scene.

The Hillsdale Area CISM Association, chaired by Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Sgt. Casey Donahue, is composed of dispatchers, police officers, EMS personnel, firefighters, a nurse and mental health professionals.

CISM is a nationwide standardized program adopted by many counties.

— Contact Reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: First responders establish peer support group for mental health