First responders and mental health: Ushering in a culture of change

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Mental health resources are not always readily available to the people who serve and protect us.

“You're dealing with a lot of these issues and you're kind of trying to suppress everything because, you know, we're the type-A personality and we're supposed to be tough and we're supposed to be strong," said Andrew Janusz, a Forks Township Police Department detective.

"And if we ask for help, many may look at us and say, well, you're weak if you're asking for help.”

Janusz said that when his job became too heavy, he didn’t know where to turn.

"It got to a point where my struggles started to affect my career, my personal life, my friendships, my marriage, and at some point action had to be done," Janusz said.

After doing research, he turned to a group of volunteers in the Lehigh Valley working to change the culture around mental health for first responders.

That group is the Lehigh Valley Law Enforcement Emergency Services Wellness Group. It offers resources in physical and mental health to police officers, firefighters and anyone considered a first responder.

"I ended up getting hooked up with this group and it’s basically when you're down that rabbit hole and you're struggling, a lot of the peer coaches and support that's in this group are there to kind of be like, ‘Hey, we were down that rabbit hole at one point. We know what it's like," he said.

"You're not alone and we're here to help you to provide whatever help or assistance you might need 24/7.’"

'We call for backup'

"We have a very, very difficult profession,” said Ben Iobst, a retired Allentown Police officer and a founding member of the volunteer group.

“Law enforcement and first responders in general are looking at suicide rates that are 1.39 times the national average. On top of that, our life expectancy is about 15 years less than everybody else."

Iobst said after experiencing his own battle with mental health, he wanted to do more to support the men and women in his field.

He said the idea came from working with the Eastern PA Critical Incident Stress Management team, which deals with very serious incidents, debriefing people and conducting psychological first aid in some capacities.

He said he saw a need for the same type of program for people dealing with the day-to-day trauma of the job.

"In this line of work, we're really not built to completely function on our own,” he said. “Every time we have the worst situations, the worst calls, the worst incidents, what do we do?

"We call for backup. We call for somebody else to come and help us out. But then when we struggle, we do it alone and isolated."

Not alone

Iobst said people in such professions witness a lot of traumatic situations. So the group mission is to let people in the field know they are not alone.

“It's just a group of people who care and that's what we are a group of first responders who care and the cool thing about it is because we're not really anything, but a fellowship," he said.

"Any group can start one of these across the country, and we'll happily send them everything that we created.

“It's more common than you think and it was just a relief to know that there are people out there who are willing to help you at any time of day within this profession,” Junsz said.

After finding the network of assistance, Junsz found the help he needed and has since become a peer coach working with men and women in his department.

"As a peer coach, we're somebody they can reach out to at any time of the day or night and we can kind of add a reference to them as a coach to the proper resources and the guys that are more experienced within whatever specific issue they might be having," he said.

Through the group, people have access to a network of professions such as local health care providers, therapists, drug and alcohol centers, social workers and even chaplains who can offer help.

To take care of first responders

Many of the services are volunteered by providers or the group works with individual officers’ private insurance.

"We have access to, at this point, over 15 different therapists that basically treat a variety of different things," Iobst said. "Really focusing on the trauma of first responder work.

“We also have access to psychiatrists, drug and alcohol rehabs, drug and alcohol navigators. "

The Lehigh Valley law enforcement emergency services wellness group also offers training to try and give people the tools they need before facing trauma.

“We also get on the front end of things where we have a lot available for when people are struggling, but how do you also become more resilient?" Iobst said.

"So we started doing trainings and they're free to agencies. We're hoping that this kind of ushered along a culture change. We want it to spread like wildfire so that this becomes a healthier profession.”

The group serves Lehigh and Northampton counties, but hopes to grow and is willing to share resources with any department interested.

It currently is looking into resiliency programs around the country to bring back to first responders in eastern Pennsylvania.

“Really what it is, is to take care of first responders in any capacity of their life,” Iobst said.

He said at the group works discreetly to keep matters confidential for anyone who contacts it.