Missouri Addresses First Responder Stress and Trauma Through New No-Cost Training Courses

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By Catherine Dorrough

All first responders in Missouri are now eligible to receive free critical incident stress management (CISM) training, via the Missouri Department of Public Safety (DPS) in coordination with the Warrior’s Rest Foundation.

“What we learned is that ‘suck it up’ doesn’t work. It means that you’re not able to process or work through the events that you go through. There’s nothing normal about the job,” said Dan Phillips, project director of the Warrior’s Rest Foundation and a retired 30-year veteran of law enforcement, in a video released by the Missouri DPS.

“It’s unrealistic to expect human beings to go through the stuff that they go through, to see the stuff that they see, to experience the things they have to experience, and not be impacted by it. I want to help them learn healthy coping mechanisms and healthy ways to deal with the traumatic events that they’re exposed to,” said Dr. Kathy Thomas, Warrior’s Rest Foundation clinical director, in the video. “The goal is for you to have a successful career, a successful family, and a successful retirement.”

According to a Missouri DPS press release, upcoming training sessions are scheduled for Springfield (June 13-15, Nov. 14-16, Dec. 5-7), St. Charles (July 11-13), St. Louis County (Aug. 1-3), Cape Girardeau (Aug. 22-24), Macon (Sept. 12-15), St. Joseph (Sept. 27-29) and Joplin (Oct. 25-27). Additional scheduling is underway.

There are two course offerings available: A three-day class on assisting individuals in crisis and staging group crisis intervention, followed by a two-day peer-support training “focused on creating and maintaining proactive peer-support teams within agencies or regions,” according to the press release.

“This new Critical Incident Stress Management training is available at no cost to any first responder – law enforcement, fire, EMS, dispatch – to help deal with traumatic events they might face on the job and to assist in building peer-support teams across the state,” said Department of Public Safety director Sandy Karsten in the press release. “My 36 years in public safety have made it clear that the experiences first responders face on the job can take a toll. Proactively addressing this and building up support resources across Missouri makes for healthier responders and agencies that are prepared when critical incidents occur.”  

The announcement comes as a follow-up to a law, signed by Governor Mike Parson in 2021, that directed Missouri DPS to establish a CISM program for first responders.