TEEX Highlights Public Safety Wellness During PTSD Awareness Month
TEEX seeks to support the mental health needs of the public safety professionals who serve our communities.
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS – June is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month, and the public safety community is disproportionately affected by this disorder. Law enforcement officers and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) is seeking to change this disturbing trend by delivering mental health and wellness training and assistance to first responders through its Public Safety Wellness Program.
Through this program, which was launched in 2023, TEEX has developed training, customized technical assistance and a counseling center to support public safety professionals throughout Texas. The services are provided at no cost through a federal grant awarded to TEEX by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
“Repeated exposure to traumatic events, unresolved stress and depression, and the stigma surrounding treatment for mental health concerns has plagued the public safety community for years,” said Alisa McDonald, Director of the program and a licensed professional counselor specializing in first responder mental health. “At TEEX, we want to be at the forefront of providing vital mental health services tailored specifically for law enforcement officers, firefighters, paramedics, 911 telecommunicators, and others in public safety roles.”
The training course, “Support that Saves: A Guide to Building and Sustaining Peer Support,” is a three-day class in which TEEX experts assess the peer-support program needs of public safety agencies and departments and provide recommendations and assistance in developing peer support teams of their own. To date, TEEX has trained more than 250 Texas-based public safety professionals in more than 20 locations.
TEEX customizes assistance to each department’s current and forecasted mental health program needs. Solutions may include establishing a comprehensive program or refining an existing program. TEEX experts also can help create the necessary policies and documents and assist in building the peer support team.
“Participating in this groundbreaking training was not just professionally enriching, it was transformational,” said Steven W. Ray, Division Chief of Health and Safety at the Klein Fire Department. “TEEX delivered more than education; it delivered a comprehensive mission centered around resilience, accountability and authentic human connection within first responder communities. The class has guided me to become a better leader, sparked open conversations, reduced stigma and helped us take tangible steps toward building a culture where it is OK to ask for help—and doing so is seen as a mark of strength, not weakness.”
The SAMHSA grant funding was also used to establish TEEX’s Public Safety Wellness and Counseling program in College Station. The program provides first responders with professional mental health counseling services using evidence-based practices to improve overall mental health and well-being. Through the program, licensed counselors also train other mental health professionals in providing trauma-informed care to first responders. A graduate internship program is available for master’s and doctoral students in the mental health professions.
Clients of the program complete an initial PTSD Checklist, a self-reporting tool to assess their PTSD symptoms, when beginning their counseling sessions. Of the 60 individuals counseled thus far, their scores have dropped from an average high initial score of 37 to an average score of 14 midway through their counseling, indicating a substantial drop in their PTSD symptoms.
“Not many programs train counselors to understand first responder trauma,” McDonald said. “We want to be able to provide and train culturally competent counselors who understand the unique trauma that public safety professionals experience. This initiative builds upon TEEX’s mission to train and support the public servants who save lives and protect our communities.”
The program also offers assistance during and after natural disasters or mass casualty incidents. For example, during the 2024 wildfires in the Texas Panhandle, the TEEX public safety wellness team traveled to Amarillo to assess needs, identify resources and assist first responders.
The Support that Saves training course is in the process of being expanded nationwide through funding from the DHS/FEMA Homeland Security National Training Program.
Click here to register for an existing Support that Saves training course. To bring the course to your agency or department, or if you or someone you know in public safety is struggling mentally, please reach out to McDonald and her team at [email protected]. Click here for a quick reference for mental health support compiled by the program.
About TEEX
The Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) is an internationally recognized leader in emergency response training, workforce training and technical assistance. In 2024, TEEX trained more than 225,000 participants from every U.S. state and territory and 124 countries worldwide.
Major TEEX programs include Fire and Emergency Services, Infrastructure and Safety, Law Enforcement and Protective Services, and Business and Cyber Solutions. Additionally, through its National Emergency Response and Recovery Training Center (NERRTC), TEEX provides federally funded homeland security training and technical assistance for communities across the nation. The agency also sponsors the Texas A&M Public Works Response Team (TX-PWRT) and the Texas A&M Task Force 1 (TX-TF1), Texas Task Force 2 (TX-TF2), and Texas A&M Task Force 3 (TX-TF3) Urban Search and Rescue Teams.
Distributed by:
Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service
Vita Vaughn | Director of Marketing and Communications/CMO
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