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First Responder Resilience: Caring for Public Servants
The tradition in emergency services has been to largely ignore mental health. This has never, nor will it ever, work. Recently there has been increased awareness of burnout, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and first responder suicide. Unfortunately awareness is not enough. Dramatic videos sharing war stories do not offer solutions for these problems. This book is designed to guide the audience towards solutions. Many people have asked me to write this book over the years. It seemed too daunting to me for a long time. After deploying to an active airport shooter situation along with a peer support team that I train and guide clinically, the Director of a large law enforcement organization learned of what we did and deemed our response as "best practice." This is the equivalent of a golden egg or Nobel Prize in my world. This alone spurred me to write the book!
138 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 4, 2017
8 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 21, 2021
This book is utter garbage. As a 13 year veteran in fire and ems with 6 years in peer support including publishing works on resiliency and mental health for public safety this book is nothing more than an affront for a growing business model. She writes in anecdotes and self-congratulatory stories about how fantastic she is and her methods are cutting edge. For a chief or administrator of a department reading this they would be sold yet not fully understand what they were buying. This is not a book on resiliency. It is a book on how great she thinks she is as a clinician and why you should hire her services.
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Unfortunately for me I did, and I was wrong about this book. It wasn’t a guide to greater resiliency. It wasn’t further light and knowledge on how to create resiliency in firefighters, police officers, and EMTs at the beginning of their careers. It wasn’t research-based findings on what therapeutic treatments are most successful and ways for departments to support and encourage their members to get help. This book was a self-righteous, autobiographical, egotistical work of presumable exaggerated fiction to grow a private practice among first responder agencies. The most accurate description for this book would that of a snake-oil salesman promising just enough hope sprinkled with positive emotions, and sleight of hand comments that focus on the salesman and not the product you’re paying for.
This is a harsh critique. To attack this complete strangers life’s work is nothing short of ostentatious on my part and I take responsibility for that in writing this review. But I also stand by what I said. As firefighters are committing suicide at alarming rates throughout the nation it seems almost disrespectful to publish a book with a title that seems to be about resiliency and getting help and instead is full of anecdotal examples of all the great nicknames she’s been given while working with first responders.
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Unfortunately for me I did, and I was wrong about this book. It wasn’t a guide to greater resiliency. It wasn’t further light and knowledge on how to create resiliency in firefighters, police officers, and EMTs at the beginning of their careers. It wasn’t research-based findings on what therapeutic treatments are most successful and ways for departments to support and encourage their members to get help. This book was a self-righteous, autobiographical, egotistical work of presumable exaggerated fiction to grow a private practice among first responder agencies. The most accurate description for this book would that of a snake-oil salesman promising just enough hope sprinkled with positive emotions, and sleight of hand comments that focus on the salesman and not the product you’re paying for.
This is a harsh critique. To attack this complete strangers life’s work is nothing short of ostentatious on my part and I take responsibility for that in writing this review. But I also stand by what I said. As firefighters are committing suicide at alarming rates throughout the nation it seems almost disrespectful to publish a book with a title that seems to be about resiliency and getting help and instead is full of anecdotal examples of all the great nicknames she’s been given while working with first responders.
July 27, 2021
If you have anything to do with psychological first aid training development, I need you to go read this book.
I saw Tania Glenn speak at the National Homeland Security Conference a few years back about how we should support those in the emergency service field. She blew my mind. She was direct, clear, and broke down every aspect we fail at and introduced us to a few science (in human not white paper terms) aspects of what the brain is doing and why.
In her book she dives more thoroughly through science (again, in human terms) and real-life stories.
Whether you have experienced trauma or may one day experience it. Whether you develop and teach psych first aid, or have received it. YOU NEED THIS BOOK.
I saw Tania Glenn speak at the National Homeland Security Conference a few years back about how we should support those in the emergency service field. She blew my mind. She was direct, clear, and broke down every aspect we fail at and introduced us to a few science (in human not white paper terms) aspects of what the brain is doing and why.
In her book she dives more thoroughly through science (again, in human terms) and real-life stories.
Whether you have experienced trauma or may one day experience it. Whether you develop and teach psych first aid, or have received it. YOU NEED THIS BOOK.
February 21, 2019
Fun with some substance.
Glad we have this asset. A lesson plan attached to the print would help. Sir SOP’s, setting up a peer group, etc.
Glad we have this asset. A lesson plan attached to the print would help. Sir SOP’s, setting up a peer group, etc.
September 18, 2019
Fantastic, to the point. Will help tremendously in my work with first responders!
October 14, 2024
Re-read of a book that changed and saved my life ~5 years ago
August 19, 2022
I’m a six year police veteran, and I’ve served 14 years as a police chaplain. This is a solid book, but it might not be for someone hoping for healing. I think it is better oriented toward policy makers and caregivers. The concepts are shared for the most part with a narrative style. It isn’t an academic book. Yet, it speaks true to the issues related to police resilience. I recommend it.
July 11, 2018
Read and read over and over. This is my go to book to keep myself grounded. I’ve been in EMS since 1988, just out of HS, and seen my share of trauma. I always knew there had to not only be a better way to stay sane but to help my peers too, and this book is it. Tania not only has a talent and passion for First Responders, but she put in the time to learn about their needs and perfected how to help this very specialized, dynamic and stubborn group of professionals. Thank you And enjoy the read.
June 22, 2023
Public Safety Professional Survival
If you are in the three legs of public safety, EMS, Law Enforcement or Fire Services and care about your peers, this is a must read. If you are in public safety leadership you must read all of Dr. Glenn's books and watch all f her YouTube videos.
The lives of those who save lives depends upon it.
If you are in the three legs of public safety, EMS, Law Enforcement or Fire Services and care about your peers, this is a must read. If you are in public safety leadership you must read all of Dr. Glenn's books and watch all f her YouTube videos.
The lives of those who save lives depends upon it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews