Greencastle Fire Department tackling mental health

Rob Frank is fully aware of the statistics facing firefighters.

The Greencastle Fire Chief needs no reminders that close to 100 firefighters a year take their lives and 20 percent of those in the profession meet the criteria of PTSD at some point during their career.

For those reasons and then some, Frank has made it a huge priority to help his firefighters with their mental health by opening up various avenues to access mental health programs. 

"The department and Local 5125 partnered to send three firefighters to become certified through the IAFF Peer Support program. This was our first step in the process of providing better mental health care to our firefighters," Frank told The Putnam Counry Post.

Frank said a few months ago he received an email from Brandon Dreiman of Pro Team Wellness explaining their program. Frank forwarded the email to Captain Darrick Wiatt and Firefighter Ben Fiest, who are on the department's Peer Support team for input. 

"They set up a meeting with Brandon and we liked what they had to offer our firefighters," he said.

From there, the department took the idea of a partnership to Greencastle Mayor Lynda Dunbar, who gave her full support. 

"Although the city has an Employee Assistance Program, that system isn’t really equipped to deal with the mental health issues that police and firefighters encounter. The city then partnered with Pro Team Wellness to provide mental health therapy and other resources to the police and fire departments," Frank said.

Frank said the partnership provides multiple services to his department. 

"Pro Team Wellness offers counseling for trauma, sleep, substance abuse, work conflicts, and health issues. 

Counseling sessions can be done over the phone, in person, or via Zoom calls. On referral they also offer Cryotherapy, red light therapy and infrasonic frequency therapy," he said.

Knowing he is making some inroads against the statistics, Frank said it has been exciting to see goals come to fruition. 

"We’ve set a lot of goals as a department over the last year and there’s been a ton of hard work put into these programs by our department members. It’s exciting to see things that were once just ideas formed around the kitchen table come to reality," Frank said.