Specific needs require special solutions
This article originally appeared in the Summer 2023 issue. View the full issue here.
It could be said that the field of psychology comes from the need to address mental illness through what we call “intervention.” When an individual shows symptoms of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, traumatic stress, addictions and other issues that impact their ability to function at school, work, home or in social environments, it becomes the job of the psychologist to identify and alter the “biopsychosocial” dynamics that caused the problems to arise.
Psychologists often work closely with others from the medical profession to determine if the symptoms are related to a medical issue. We position the person’s needs in the context of their social environment, and then identify the way in which their thoughts translate into emotions and ultimately, their behavior.
This is where most people encounter a psychologist, and this has framed the way most people understand the profession. It has remained a cornerstone of our practice but actually addresses only one of the major functions of our profession. Along with intervention, we assist with assessments, operations, and organizational consultation.
The Assessment Part
The discipline of assessment spans across educational, occupational, and some personal applications. To assess something, we attempt to answer a specific question based on what we understand about the concept from research. Then, we can use specific tools to not only determine whether someone meets a standard, but also evaluate whether they’re a good candidate for a job or are the best person for a supervisory role. This is all based on what we understand about the traits of successful first responders.
If a person shows worrying or dangerous behavior, we may do risk assessments or formulate an opinion as to whether that firefighter is safe to continue working in a particular role. Unfortunately, our understanding of the fire service profession is limited since there is at this time little professional research. As a result, we borrow much of our understanding of first responders from the law enforcement profession. As time goes on, we hope to invest in the science of fire service psychology so that our technical skills and psychological tools are specifically tuned to the fire service profession.
As a side note, It is important to understand that the psychologist who evaluates a firefighter is most likely not going to be the same professional who provides intervention services. We don’t want to bias our opinions and it is much better to not engage in dual relationships. It is also possible that the stigma of accessing services can develop if firefighters believe seeing a psychologist may potentially impact their career negatively. It is important for psychologists and other mental health professionals to provide all the necessary information so firefighter clients can understand the nature and limits of confidentiality, the licences and scopes of practice of their profession, and the function of what they are doing with that particular person.
Psychologists and Firefighting Operations
The role of psychologists in the operations of firefighting is not easily defined. In part, this is a result of society’s changing expectations of how firefighters engage with the community. Psychologists who assist with operations have typically focused on training law enforcement officers to understand mental health dynamics in the community.
This operational support has been focused on crisis intervention and hostage negotiation strategies. These skills are becoming more relevant to firefighters as the profession has recently been tasked with providing greater mental health support to the community through crisis intervention or transport services. Society has called for alternative resources over law enforcement to respond to incidents traditionally addressed by the police.
Operational support may also include the analysis and training of human factors related to fireground safety using crew resource management and developing a deeper understanding of the thoughts associated with task management, perceived fireground threats, as well as acquisition of emotional regulation skills.
Psychologists Provide Beneficial Outcomes
Fire service organizations benefit from the contributions of professional psychology. We are trained to understand the behavior of not only individuals but the entire group. And when groups of experience high rates of burnout, interpersonal challenges, post traumatic stress outcomes and other challenges, psychologists can provide organizational assessments to understand the current rates of the problem. They have been trained to implement programs to address these specific challenges and will be able to test the effectiveness of their programs. If modifications need to be made, they should have the specific skills to understand what to do.
Professional psychology in the fire service has often been singularly focused on intervention – in other words, we are focused on addressing individual dysfunction after it has occurred.
The fire service is trained to understand the importance of choosing the right tool for the job, but it appears we may have overlooked, on a broad scale, the value of professional psychology to contribute to all four domains of public safety psychology: assessment, operations, consultation, and intervention.
This article originally appeared within the Summer 2023 issue. View the full issue here, or browse all back issues in theCRACKYL Library.
