The First Responder Healing Manual


Book Description

Every day, first responders immerse themselves in the chaos and confusion of other people's very bad days. Eventually, it takes a toll. How do you handle it? Suck it up and drive on - right? But which is best: to stuff it, employ temporary coping mechanisms and self-medicate in harmful ways, or to experience actual healing and resilience from God - your Creator and Healer? This interactive manual combines best practices from the medical and mental health communities with the timeless principles from the Bible that have addressed the effects of stress and trauma for centuries. In this manual you will find step-by-step principles that will help you: -Understand how the stress and trauma you experience in the line of duty affects you physically, psychologically and spiritually. -Become intentional about creating a healing environment for yourself and your family. -Adopt therapeutic spiritual disciplines. -Process your loss and grief. -Experience the freeing influence of giving and receiving forgiveness - from God and from others. -Rebuild your identity based on what God says about you. -Strengthen yourself spiritually against future stress and trauma. -Connect with those who will support you in positive ways. -Learn how to deal with Secondary Traumatic Stress, Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue. -Understand how to help your family as they respond to your stress and trauma. -Make plans for the future as a strengthened man or woman of God. While this manual is best employed in a small group environment where group members form a cohesive unit to encourage each other along, it can be used "solo" by a motivated individual who is serious about processing their stress and trauma and moving on to strength, stability and resilience for the future.




Bulletproof Spirit, Revised Edition


Book Description

Suicide, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, and many more emotional and stress-related problems plague the first-responder community. Hundreds of thousands of these brave public servants have unwittingly become victims of the professions they once loved. However, the suffering that results from a professional life of sacrifice and service can be prevented and mitigated. As a thirty-year law-enforcement veteran, retired police captain, and police academy instructor, Dan Willis has witnessed the damage of emotional trauma and has made it his personal mission to safeguard and enhance the wellness and wholeness of police officers, firefighters, EMTs, emergency-room personnel, and soldiers. Bulletproof Spirit offers field-tested expertise designed to be used by all first responders — and their families — to heal themselves and continue serving with compassion and strength.




When War Comes Home


Book Description

When War Comes Home combines spiritual comfort and practical, Christ-centered solutions for wives of combat veterans struggling with the hidden wounds of war including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.




Treating Ptsd in First Responders


Book Description

Police, firefighters, and paramedics are highly exposed to traumatic events and experience markedly higher rates of PTSD than others in the community, also facing distinct organizational challenges that complicate their stress reactions. Often, this results in needs not addressed in manuals developed for people who have survived single traumatic events. This book provides an overview of theoretical and empirical frameworks for understanding PTSD in first responders and outlines practical, evidence-based approaches to assess and treat PTSD in these populations.




Addiction and Recovery for First Responders


Book Description

Addiction & Recovery for First Responders is the first book of its kind to address the unique culture of public safety professionals and the problems they face related to substance abuse. This concise book includes self assessments, practical information for seeking help, navigating recovery and so much more. This resource is intended to provide useful information to emergency service personnel, their families, co-workers and supervisors.




POWER


Book Description

Power: Police Officer Wellness, Ethics, and Resilience collectively presents the numerous psychic wounds experienced by peace officers in the line of duty, including compassion fatigue, moral injury, PTSD, operational stress injury, organizational and operational stress, and loss. Authors describe the negative repercussions of these psychic wounds in law enforcement decision-making, job performance, job satisfaction, and families. The book encompasses evidence-based strategies to assist law enforcement agencies in developing policy programs to promote wellness for their personnel. The evidence-based techniques presented allow officers to get a more tangible and better understanding of the techniques so that they apply those techniques when on and off-duty. With forewords authored by Dr. John Violanti (Distinguished Police Research Professor) and Dr. Tracie Keesee, Vice President of the Center of Policing Equity, this book is an excellent resource for police professionals, police wellness coordinators, early career researchers, mental health professionals who provide services to law enforcement officers and their families, and graduate students in psychology, forensic psychology, and criminal justice. - Platinum Award Winner 2019, Homeland Security Awards - American Security Today - Provides reader with evidence-based strategies to promote officer wellness - Covers compassion fatigue, moral injury, PTSD, operational stress, and more - Written by established scholars and professionals from a law enforcement context




First Responders


Book Description

"It's important for fire fighters and the behavioral health community to work together in a systematic approach to not only fight stigma, but develop alternatives to the traditional behavioral health services and interventions available. One such pioneer leading the fight to develop quality and culturally competent treatment for our fire fighters is Dr. George Lindenfeld, noted psychologist and accomplished author. In his fifth work, First Responders: Compassion Fatigue, Burnout, & PTSD, Dr. Lindenfeld dives deeply into the unique experiences of PTSD among the brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to serve our communities. "Building on his expertise in treating active military and veteran populations who suffer from PTSD, Dr. Lindenfeld has developed a promising new intervention that uses sensory activation to reconsolidate traumatic memories without relying on the traditional talk therapy interventions that in some cases have been ineffective or even a deterrent for those seeking help. I am grateful for Dr. Lindenfeld's contribution to bring the critical issues of PTSD in the fire service to the forefront of our national and international awareness. We have an uphill battle to climb in addressing this crisis among our ranks, but when we work together to challenge versus accept what is, we are one step closer." Sincerely, Harold A. Schaitberger General President International Association of Firefighters




The Little Book of Trauma Healing: Revised & Updated


Book Description

How do we address trauma, interrupt cycles of violence, and build resilience in a turbulent world of endless wars, nationalism, othering, climate crisis, racism, pandemics, and terrorism? This fully updated edition offers a practical framework, processes, and useful insights. The traumas of our world go beyond individual or one-time events. They are collective, ongoing, and the legacy of historical injustices. How do we stay awake rather than numbing or responding violently? How do we cultivate individual and collective courage and resilience? This Little Book provides a justice-and-conflict-informed community approach to addressing trauma in nonviolent, neurobiologically sound ways that interrupt cycles of violence and meet basic human needs for justice and security. In these pages, you’ll find the core framework and tools of the internationally acclaimed Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) program developed at Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding in response to 9/11. A startlingly helpful approach.




First Responder Families


Book Description




Mindfulness for Warriors


Book Description

Less than three months after retiring from a thirty-year law enforcement career, Kim Colegrove's husband chose suicide. Since that day, Colegrove has been helping first responders across the country practice techniques to cope with the stress and trauma that their works brings, and this book continues that mission by offering first responders and their families hope by introducing meditation and mindfulness as viable and practical tools to help reduce stress, regulate emotion, and improve overall health and well-being.