First responders help and protect us. They deal with everything from people hurt in traffic accidents to crime victims.
But imagine the trauma of dealing with these difficult situations week after week, month after month, and year after year.
"I've struggled with it throughout my career," said Santa Maria Police officer John Robles. "I've been a cop for over 12 years now. Back when I first started, it was always push down, forget about it, push on. I had a friend kill himself who was a fellow officer. I work traffic currently, and we have fatal (accidents) all the time that we have to respond to. Gangs and dope, I worked that a little bit, so you see the shootings and the stabbings. It may not affect you right away, but it builds up."
He said he learned to cope with the trauma of the job by talking to his peers, and for him personally through religion. Robles is now helping others, volunteering as a peer support officer with the Santa Maria Police Department.
The peer support program in Santa Barbara County is like a team of first responders for first responders. Sometimes, if they spot someone struggling, it may mean something as simple as sitting down to talk over a cup of coffee. In other cases, it may mean guiding someone to professional help.
Robles said first responders relate to each other about their experiences in a way the public, or even their families, might not understand.
"Getting it off your chest, it means the world. It's different when you are talking to one of your peers. It's someone you can say in your head, 'Okay, they know what I'm going through'."
Nearly four dozen peer support volunteers with law enforcement agencies in Santa Barbara County gathered in Buellton for a town hall event Thursday intended to help them improve their skills and share their experiences.
"We wanted to get a connection with the peer support teams around the county, because they really are the front line of mental wellness for all of our first responders," said Richard Weston-Smith, co-founder and COO of One805, a nonprofit group which raises money to support the county's first responders.
One of its bigger efforts is providing funding for free, confidential counseling for first responders in the county. One 805 sponsored the Peer Support Town Hall.
"They're volunteers, they work within the ranks, they have their full-time jobs," said Weston-Smith. "They are the ones who are actually trained to spot a colleague who may possibly need some help."
"We're just interested in understanding what the needs of the peer support teams are, to see if there's any way we can help them," said Weston-Smith. "Sometimes they might want additional training, or help developing awareness, or reassurance that the programs we fund are fully anonymous."
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said they are working to change the longtime stigma among first responders over reaching out for help.
"It always hasn't been recognized as it is today of how important it is to address. It's been said that the average person in their entire life goes through two to three traumatic events. The average first responder, it's over 180."
Changing the culture isn’t easy. One town hall speaker is a particularly well-known veteran, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. He served in Afghanistan.
"They (the first responders) are understandably worried that they may lose their job, they may be pulled off their team, they may be stopped from going on deployments," said Harry. "That's a genuine concern. With the peer support structure that's set up here, the best thing about it is those individuals can trust they can open up, speak about their experiences, feel a damn sight better off after it, be more resilient and more mentally strong, and know that their job is secure."
The culture for years was that seeing traumatic events was part of the job, and you were expected to tough it out.
But Harry said that's changing.
"The attitude is definitely changing, in a large part due to the leadership within law enforcement and the fire departments. Some of the leaders I've met over the last five or six years have really changed the culture, and that's what it comes down to, the culture."
Prince Harry became involved in first responder wellness programs in Santa Barbara County through ONE805.
He said when first responders talk to each other, and counselors when needed, it helps make the trauma manageable. "The more individuals that come forward to be able to talk about this stuff, and share their own experiences, it gives everybody else permission to do that as well, and then you have a more resilient and stronger workforce. It's that simple."
Weston-Smith said we need to make sure we look out for the people who look out for us, by making sure they have the wellness support they need.
