There is clear benefit to keeping staff/volunteers safe and well. The core statement of STAY SAFE STAY WELL is central to the wellbeing and resilience of the individual. 

Risks to physical health are routinely identified and understood but risks to psychological health must be planned for and managed in a similar way. 

Understanding PROTECTIVE FACTORS and addressing RISK FACTORS is key to managing psychological health. Core protective factors are social support and understanding what keeps us as individuals and teams well. 

The Lifelines Staying Well Road Trip and the Lifelines Staying Well – Understanding Resilience and Self-Care learning units will help here. This website provides a wealth of information and in particular the sections on Why I’m ok most of the time and When I might need some help.

Our immediate colleagues and the team we operate within will have a significant bearing on our mental health. Ideally this will be positive but occasionally can be negative. Examples of what can be considered here would be the issues of team and organisational culture; management; leadership; and the impact of personal relationships. 

Good leadership and management will empower in a way that allows individuals and teams to flourish, and that leads to a high quality service for those being helped. How individuals or teams can support colleagues effectively is also relevant. 

Tackling the stigma around mental health is an ongoing challenge but the Lifelines Supporting your Colleagues/Team learning unit will be helpful here. Our website page I’m worried about someone else contains useful tips.

Those in our social circle are important for several reasons. Good social support has been shown to be one of the best protectors of mental wellbeing. 

There is likely that those around us may spot signs of change, perhaps when we are starting to struggle a bit. It is helpful for them to recognise such signs (and symptoms) and know and understand how they might be able to help.

On our website, have a look at the section for friends, family and supporters. Here, you will also find an example of a “Welcome to the Team” family booklet.

Who does the individual work or volunteer for?

Some organisations will employ emergency service personnel or have responsibility for volunteers within these services (for example on call fire, special constables, first responders). Other organisations will have no specific links to the emergency services but have employees who volunteer as emergency responders. A further group of organisations will be charities delivering services via volunteers.

The first group has very clear responsibilities to protect the health and safety of staff and those they engage as volunteers. Risk assessments should include psychological risk with the appropriate controls established. A proactive rather than reactive approach will be best practice. Employers must lead by example and establish a culture which tackles stigma in a positive way. An emphasis on good leadership and management, with a focus on nurturing staff should be fundamental. Creating meaningful individual learning plans for all staff together with sound management development programmes will help build resilience and protect staff. Our Learning Toolkit may be helpful.

The second group has employees who volunteer in their own time and these employers may well support those individuals to respond during working hours. It would be appropriate that they take an active interest and agree how to support the volunteer if called to respond to callouts during work time (if this is allowed). It will be helpful to agree how volunteers can be supported if coming to work after over-night callouts or when the volunteer may return to work after a difficult callout. The section on our website – I employ a volunteer emergency responder will be of help here. Organisations in this group can be helped to recognise the potential benefits of employing a volunteer responder, for example by highlighting the skills and knowledge that can be brought to the workplace. It is worth acknowledging that many volunteer responders may be self-employed, and this can add its own challenges. 

The third group are charities (mainly) where services are delivered by volunteers. Best practice would be to reflect the need for appropriate risk assessments together with a focus on good leadership, management, and volunteer wellbeing. Raising awareness and skills by sourcing good learning opportunities and the sharing of best practice will help to build resilience and protect the volunteers. Again, our learning Toolkit may be helpful as well as the resources on this site.

Volunteer organisations can explore opportunities for support that might reflect that of an Employee Assistance Programme as well as ensure appropriate insurance covers and perhaps benevolent schemes are in place.

This section covers the service provided to others. Because everyone is different it is often difficult to predict with certainty how individuals (or teams) might react to incidents in their roles as emergency service staff or volunteers. The Lifelines website provides a list of what can be classed as Risky Jobs. Individuals may or may not be impacted by a particular incident, a cumulation of incidents, or things going on in their personal lives. Research has shown that support, both from colleagues and people outside of work, reduces the impact that potentially traumatic work incidents have on psychological wellbeing. 

Our Staying Well Road Trip and Staying Well – Understanding Resilience and Self-Care learning units will help here. This website provides a wealth of information and in particular the sections on Why I’m ok most of the time and When I might need some help. Our Supporting your Colleagues/Team learning unit will be helpful here. Our website’s section on I’m worried about someone else also contains useful tips.

The people that are helped can also have an impact on the mental wellbeing of staff and volunteers. In the main, this would be expected to be a positive impact, but it can also be negative. Too often we hear of abuse and violence towards emergency service staff and volunteers. But it might also be negative public reaction, media coverage or subsequent inquiries. It is worth exploring the possible negative impacts and to reflect these in risk assessments. For example, limiting involvement or exposure to media/social media after a challenging job may be advisable.

This phase can focus on things that might be done at recruitment, induction and start of career to foster peer support and build resilience. But it can also address preparation for operational incidents to help protect the wellbeing of the individual.
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“Before” supports our vision of an upstream, proactive, and preventative approach. For example, making sure that staff or volunteers understand the type of incidents that can be attended; help them to understand what is involved in their roles; break down stigma by encouraging a culture where they can speak out about concerns; and by providing reassurance and support.

This phase can focus on the things that might be done during the career of staff or the volunteer journey.  This can relate to organisational culture, leadership, management, policies and practice - all in relation to the wellbeing of the individual. For example, this phase might include considerations of how staff/volunteers are looked after during a period of absence.

“During” can also be used to explore how staff/volunteers are supported during operational incidents. For example, making sure that they have roles that they understand and that have purpose; limit exposure to areas of high intensity where possible; ensure that refreshment and rest breaks are taken, and encourage continuous check-in and voicing of any concerns.  

This phase can focus on things that might be done at the point that staff or volunteers retire from (or leave) the service.  This will include the approach to that point as well as afterwards. This phase might also include how staff/volunteers are looked after and managed during a return-to-work phase following an absence.  The “after” phase will also include the period after an operational incident and the support that may need to be considered and put in place. 

This can include such things as acknowledging what went well; providing opportunities to discuss the incident informally; everyone keeping an eye out on any changes in colleagues (or themselves); involving families and friends as appropriate; and reminding them of the support that can range from speaking to those they trust to the more formal support in place.

Psychological injury is not inevitable and most personnel, most of the time, will cope well. However, it is important for individuals and the organisation to understand the risks.  

The sections on our website which cover Why I’m OK most of the time   and When I might need some help provide good information and tips for everyone. Our learning unit, Staying Well – Understanding Resilience and Self-Care will be very helpful here. Our online Road Trip – A Guide to Resilience for Responders in Scotland is also a unit of learning that all staff/volunteers can do.  Post trauma support – Providing Psychological First Aid will also help in understanding risk associated with psychological injury and how to support yourself and others.

Increasing knowledge, skills and understanding around the issues of wellbeing and mental health will help to protect staff and volunteers, but it will also help to reduce the stigma often associated with mental ill health. There are many opportunities to increase knowledge, skills and understanding through training and learning opportunities and thsi website, our courses and our Learning Toolkit will all help to identify what might suit members of the emergency service community at all stages of their career (or volunteering). Learning around wellbeing and psychological health can be integrated and embedded into core induction, management, operational and pre-retirement courses.

There are opportunities to learn from what others are doing and to share ideas and practice.

Good management and leadership are associated with staff and volunteer wellbeing, morale and good mental health, and a key part of PROTECTIVE ARMOUR.  Our website contains sections that provide some guidance on what good management and leadership might look like. Training and support for managers and leaders at all levels will include looking after the psychological health of staff/volunteers.  Our learning unit, Supporting Your Team will be useful for managers/leaders.

When policies and practices are being drawn up or reviewed, wellbeing should be integrated into the process. Our Prospectus and Learning Toolkit provides more information on what we can offer to help support organisations in this process.  Many organisational policies and procedures already relate, in some way, to wellbeing of staff but there will be opportunities to take a holistic view and ensure that these link together as appropriate.  Some examples might be recruitment; induction; retirement; leave; sickness; return-to-work; bullying, harassment, and discrimination; staff reporting; and staff development.  

Relationships with colleagues, family and friends are central to wellbeing. Social support is the most important factor in our ability to be resilient and to bounce back when we encounter adversity in life.  

Having people who care about us, and who we can ask for help, is the thing that protects us most when we’re exposed to potentially traumatic experiences.  It can make the difference between resilience and injury.  

There are sections in our website that provide information and tips in relation to support from others.  Our course, Supporting Your Colleagues will also be useful. 

A positive work environment will encompass both the physical environment and the environment that is created by the organisational culture (the way things are done here) and those we work with – our colleagues and those we help.  This is a complex mix that will be characterised by the impact that good leadership and management will ultimately have on individuals.  Staff/volunteers need to be clear on what is expected of them as well as feel included, listened to, supported and valued. Our website section on good management and leadership provides some pointers and tips.  

There are two sides to stigma - social stigma, which is when others judge and treat us badly, and self-stigma, which is when we feel and think badly about ourselves.  Examples of social stigma are when jokes are made about people who are mentally unwell or when people are excluded from opportunities after disclosing a psychological injury. Examples of self-stigma are when we feel ashamed, weak, a failure or undeserving of help.  Both are a problem because they make it harder to access the support we need to get better.  

There are many ways in which this can be achieved but starting from the top of the organisation is a good idea. Organisations can demonstrate senior manager commitment through statements of intent, strategies, and action plans. Those in leadership or management roles can lead by example and shape the overall culture of the organisation. Promoting good mental health means more than just building an intranet page of links or supporting occasional campaigns – it really must be embedded into the organisational culture at all levels. 

In each organisation there may already be sources of support, for example Employee Assistance Programmes and organisational intranet resources. However, there are also many national (eg NHS) and local support options. On our website we have provided some direct links to organisational support where we have these, but we have also provided national resource links on the Find Help pages. We have also added a section which we hope will be of help to professionals who might be supporting a responder.