Mental Fitness for First Responders

A One-Day Bootcamp

Offered in 2 different Locations

Quality Inn, Jamestown- July 19, 2023 9:00am-5:00pm- Register Here

The Public Safety Building, Dickinson- July 20, 2023 9:00am-5:00pm- Register Here

Mental fitness is a positive, proactive, and disciplined way of meeting the emotional and psychological challenges of First Responder roles AND enjoying more of the mental rewards we want from work.

These are challenging times for first responders. Staffing shortages, social ills, funding issues, increasing demands, and ugly politics are making this role more difficult. Mental fitness is about preparing ourselves to meet these challenging times. Mental fitness develops the awareness, commitment, maturity, discipline, grit, and optimism needed to meet challenges and still have a positive and satisfying experience. This one-day boot camp introduces mental fitness and plunges participants into the training, conditioning, skills, and tools needed to build mental fitness.

What we will do:

Over eight hours, we will introduce the concept of mental fitness and engage in exercises and skills that will deepen your understanding of mental fitness and give you the tools to go home and start a mental fitness routine. The session will be highly active and participatory!

Mental fitness begins with paying attention to attention. Focus becomes our reality. When the attention muscle is developed, exercised, and strong we:

• Notice how we experience what happens to us and construct a better day;
• Zero in on the stuff we can control and take action instead of focusing on what we can’t control and spending our energy complaining and feeling victimized;
• Find the good even amid difficulties, frustration, suffering, and loss;
• Clean up our thought life, armor up and down and practice mental hygiene; and
• Meet setbacks and adversity head-on.

Over the day, we will demonstrate that mental fitness is much easier to work on and maintain when practiced with others.

Who this is for and not for:

The program is for first responders who:

• want an active and practical approach to first responder wellbeing;
•  have the desire to take better care of themselves and have a better experience;
• want to help their colleagues and agencies address better mental fitness; and
• are not afraid of growing, challenging assumptions, and changing, all while having fun.    

This boot camp IS NOT for first responders who:

•  Are in a crisis or experiencing mental health challenges;
• Believe this kind of programming is for the weak and fragile;
• Think they know it all and don't want to grow;
• are just fine with the traditional suck-it-up and grab-a-beer approach to wellbeing;
• Wish to be entertained and not do any work; and
• Believe being silent, burnt-out, and cynical is their right because they have “seen it all.”