Luckily, things are changing, and first responders now realize that they may need help from time to time processing some of the bad things they see. In Cowlitz County, Wash., a nonprofit has been making things easier for first responders to get help dealing with some of the unpleasantness of the job. The Cowlitz Chaplaincy exists for the wellness of local first responders, support staff and the community as a whole.
With three full-time paid chaplains and four volunteers, there is always at least one person ready to roll to the scene of an accident or other disaster to help first responders deal with what they are about to witness and also to help victims’ family members who may be on scene.
The chaplaincy is busy and has only been getting busier over the last few years with the pandemic and the stress police have faced in light of events including the shooting death of Cowlitz Deputy Justin DeRosier and subsequent suicide of another first responder.
“Cowlitz County lost a deputy in a shooting in 2019,” said Lt. Darryl Arrera, with Cowlitz 2 Fire and Rescue. “It was a substantial event, and after that one of our guys went out on stress leave and shot himself.”
Those events and others over the last few years have increased the calls for chaplains, according to Paul Bricknell, executive director of the chaplaincy. “After the beginning of the pandemic, followed by George Floyd’s death in May of 2020, we started to see another uptick in counseling from 35 hours to 45 hours to 65 hours [per month],” said Bricknell.
In his 32 years as a first responder, Arrera has seen increased willingness of first responders to acknowledge the need for help and to seek it out. “There has been a major shift in the conversations and openness about stress injury and stress response,” he said. “We’re leading-edge in some ways in just normalizing the presence of and conversations about stress and stress management.”
The chaplaincy only arrives on a disaster scene when asked, which is a lot of the time nowadays. Paramedics and law enforcement sometimes know they will be dealing with a fatality and have dispatch call for a chaplain to help with family members who may be on scene.
“But it also becomes part of the conversation,” Arrera said. “We’ll have an after action review after some kind of event and often we’re including the discussion about stress or mental health, like, ‘How are you doing?’ It isn’t always formal.”
Bricknell said the chaplaincy makes about 100 visits a month to county first responders, including coroners, police, fire and EMS. It’s a far cry from some communities that may have one chaplain available for a number of different situations and who may not always be available to check and see how first responders are feeling.
“We’re normal people dealing with abnormal stuff at a pretty substantial rate,” Arrera said. “And it’s not just the chaplains at the scenes or at offices, wherever people happen to be, it’s an openness to the conversation. We have some wonderful people doing wonderful work.”
