All firefighters are impacted by the stresses of firefighting and the demands of everyday life. Some are affected more profoundly than others, and some more deeply at times, but fellow firefighters can help each other respond to these pressures. Our latest online training course, Peer Support Programs for the Fire Service, discusses the important role that a peer support program can play in keeping firefighters and their departments healthy. This new course is provided by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, in cooperation with Stonehouse Media, on our Fire Hero Learning Network.
“Through our work with both firefighters and families of the fallen, we have often found that our peers offer a unique perspective that others cannot. These peers understand the demands of firefighting and are facing similar challenges in their own lives,” says Chief Ronald J. Siarnicki, Executive Director of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. “With the right tools and guidance, they can help each other work through those everyday stressors to remain resilient and healthy members of the department.”
Peer Support Programs for the Fire Service is a self-paced awareness-level course that explains how these programs can help departments respond to firefighter occupational stresses, including the everyday effects of firefighting as well as the impact of a firefighter line-of-duty death. The course also presents the basic principles of fire service peer support programs and how they work. Although Peer Support Programs for the Fire Service does not train fire service peer supporters, it provides guidance for designing and creating a program for your department.
This program was generously supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) National Law Enforcement Survivor Support and National Firefighter and First Responder Survivor Support Program.
To access this and other important free online training, visit and register for an account at the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s Fire Hero Learning Network at: www.fireherolearningnetwork.com.
