DAY 1: Understanding Fire Service Culture
The Understanding Fire Service Culture course provides a broad overview of the fire service and its psychological components. After successful completion, the participant can earn one hour of continuing education per hour of training (sponsored by the American Psychological Association).
Learning Objectives:
- Identify cultural components of the fire service, including performance standards, jargon, shift work, and barriers to treatment.
- Describe the complexities of firefighting and emergency service, including trauma exposures.
- Identify unique challenges to interpersonal relationships.
- Explain organizational demands inherent in the firefighting profession based on the paramilitary organization.
- Explain current trends in peer support and psychological services offered to fire departments and barriers to treatment.
DAY 2: Fire Operations 101
Participants can go through a Fire Station Tour, Try on Firefighter Gear, Get an Introduction to Apparatus Basics, Shift Schedules, Crew Dynamics, an Overview of Incident Response -Emergency Medical Services/ Firefighting, and a discussion of Mayday Procedures.
- 0900-1000 Fire Service Overview (Fire HQ)
- 1000-1100 EMS Demonstration (Fire HQ)
- 1100-1230 Hands-on experience (Drill tower)
- 1230-1400 Lunch
- 1400-1600 Station Life and Tour (offsite)
- 1600-1630 Course Close Out (Fire HQ)
Post event steps
- STEP 1: Participants will complete Ride Alongs (forty hours of shadowing firefighters in their daily tasks with a “Task-Book” to be Completed by a Clinician and Signed Off by a Fire Officer. This will be completed within three months of the completion of classroom training.
- STEP 2: Participants will complete three consultation hours with a Fire Service Psychologist (virtual via Zoom).
- STEP 3: FSPA will provide two case examples, and the participant will demonstrate proficiency of cultural competency (reviewed by a Fire Service Psychologist to ensure the participant meets the standard.) This will be in a test format.
Earn: Basic Fire Service Psychology Cultural Competency Certificate
Requirements
Before the start of the program, participants will be required to sign an acknowledgment of the dress code, any relevant policies, and liability forms.
Registration for this program is limited. If we receive your application after registration is full, we will offer priority access in the next open training program.
Please note there are registration exceptions for departments who have limited participation to local clinicians. In the event your preferred class dates or location are within this designation, you will receive priority registration access for the next offering without the resident requirement.
We value inclusion and access for all participants and are pleased to provide reasonable accommodations for the classroom training. Please email info@firepsychology.org to make a reasonable accommodation request. Requests must be submitted at least forty five days prior to the event.
