Dealing with traumatic events nearly daily can take a toll on first responders’ mental health.
The Tallahassee Fire Department is hosting a program to address this issue, bringing in about 40 mental health providers to educate them on how to better care for the needs of first responders.
The department held a live demo on Wednesday, to give these providers a glimpse into what firefighters go through.
“It’s a very rewarding career in the end,” firefighter Lance Butler said. “If you can make it through all the bad days.” In Butler’s 13 years of serving as a firefighter, one bad day in particular sticks with him.
“In November of 2018 at the hot yoga studio shooting in Tallahassee, I responded to that along with several from our department,” Butler said. “I was diagnosed with PTSD shortly after that.”