Rates of suicide among first responders remains much higher than the general public, but a state program is making progress.
MINNEAPOLIS — On Monday, a landmark ruling by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, opened the door for the families of first responders to apply for line of duty death benefits if their loved ones died from suicide due to work related PTSD.
The change provides further recognition of the unique trauma that first responders face on the job, but the story doesn’t end with compensation for families. It ends when suicide is prevented.
Since 2016, the Minnesota Firefighter Initiative (MnFIRE), has been working with that mission in mind, and a major investment by the MN legislature in 2021 has accelerated it’s progress.
MnFIRE’s success is driven by a community of current and former firefighters who look out for their peers and battle stigmas that have prevented many from seeking help both within the first service and outside of it.
“I always thought that, if I bring this up, then I won’t be promoted, or I’ll be held back, or I won’t advance in my career,” said Thomas Brooks, who worked as a firefighter and paramedic for 28 years. “The other side of it is, we delay looking for help because people don’t really understand what we do or what we see.”
Brooks says those stigmas, paired with acute trauma, led him to begin contemplating suicide in 2018.
“I went on a call in November, just before Thanksgiving, and there was a 15-year-old hanging,” Brooks said. “From that point on, in four months, I basically made the decision that I wasn’t going to be here anymore. I took a tumble in a very short time that I didn’t understand.”
Fortunately, he says his plans changed following a serendipitous text, that delivered a perfectly timed invitation.
“I stopped at my captain’s ice fishing house on the way from up north and just kind of broke down,” he said. “And then I found out he was going through the same thing for two years, and I never knew about it.”
That conversation, helped Brooks realize he’s not alone, and that he needed to seek help. Because he was a full-time firefighter, he qualified for specialized mental health treatment at the International Association of Fire Fighters Center of Excellence in Maryland. He says it saved – and changed – his life.
“I came back from that treatment and I said, ‘If I can help and save one person, this was worth everything I went through,” he said.
To do that, he joined MnFIRE, as a peer support specialist. But at the time, he realized that many of his peers didn’t have access to the same resources.
“In a lot of cases, because Minnesota’s fire service is 90% volunteer, there weren’t available employee assistance programs or other mental health resources,” said George Esbenson, President of MnFIRE. “And people didn’t have the money to pay for it.”
That began to change last year, when Governor Walz signed the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program, which provided $4 Million dollars a year to fund a variety of services, including mental health training for all Minnesota fire departments and access to a network of 738 firefighter-focused mental health providers.
“Through that legislation, every firefighter in Minnesota is eligible for five free visits, per incident, per year, for themselves and their family members, through this network,” Esbenson said.
That access has already led to 585 mental health visits in just 17 months, and that doesn’t include the more than 500 firefighters who have now formed a community with more than 100 peers like Brooks.
Brooks: “When I come in with my history, they’re like, okay, he’s been through it, he’s been to treatment, and there is a better side to this. There is a good outcome.”
Kent Erdahl: “Do you believe this program has saved lives?”
Brooks: “Oh completely. When I go into a peer class now, and I look around, I see the guys that I helped are becoming peers. This definitely works. This definitely saves lives, and it’s growing, we’ve just got to keep on it.”
If you’re a firefighter in need of help, you can call MNFire’s 24 hour peer support line at 888-784-6634. You can also visit www.mnfireinitiative.com for information on all of its programs and services.
If you are not a firefighter, but you – or someone you know – is in immediate emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, dial 988 to connect with the suicide and crisis lifeline. You can also text “MN” to 741741 to chat with with someone.
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