Resilience Development in Action

E.219 The IAFF Center of Excellence: A Lifeline for Firefighters in Crisis

• Steve Bisson, Hannah Elmore • Season 12 • Episode 219

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The IAFF Center of Excellence stands as a sanctuary for firefighters navigating the complex terrain of mental health challenges. In this revealing conversation with Hannah Elmore, Clinical Outreach Coordinator, we explore how this specialized treatment facility has become a lifeline for nearly 4,000 firefighters across North America.

Hannah takes us behind the scenes of this unique 15-acre campus in Maryland, explaining how every aspect—from the station house-style sleeping quarters to the communal kitchen tables—was designed with firefighters in mind. "The IAFF's fingerprints are all over everything we do," she explains, highlighting the unparalleled cultural competency that makes the Center so effective.

What struck me most was the Center's commitment to treating the whole person, not just a diagnosis. While many assume PTSD is the primary concern for firefighters, Hannah reveals they address everything from depression and anxiety to substance use disorders and what she calls "administrative betrayal"—that profound sense of being let down by leadership that can be more devastating than emergency calls. The facility's dual licensure for both mental health and substance use treatment ensures comprehensive care without arbitrary distinctions.

Perhaps most powerful was our discussion about the fire pit—that simple gathering place where many firefighters experience their deepest healing through connection with peers from across the country. These relationships often continue long after discharge, creating a nationwide network of behavioral health champions who support each other and bring resources back to their departments.

The message Hannah wants every firefighter to hear? "You don't have to wait until you reach crisis before reaching out for help." Whether you're struggling with job-related trauma, family stress, or simply feeling that disconnect between your feet and your mind, the Center offers a path forward with culturally competent care that understands the unique challenges of the fire service.

Ready to learn more or connect with resources? Reach Hannah directly at 727-506-9036 or contact the 24/7 admissions team at 855-441-3024. Your journey toward healing doesn't have to wait another day.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Resilience Development in Action, where strength meets strategy and courage to help you move forward. Each week, your host, steve Bisson, a therapist with over two decades of experience in the first responder community, brings you powerful conversations about resilience, growth and healing through trauma and grief. Through authentic interviews, expert discussions and real-world experiences, we dive deep into the heart of human resilience. We explore crucial topics like trauma recovery, grief processing, stress management and emotional well-being. This is Resilience Development in Action with Steve Bisson.

Speaker 2:

Hi and welcome to episode 219. If you haven't listened to episode 218, well, it's the same guest, so hopefully go to listen to that first and then join us for the second part with Hannah Elmore, who is the clinical outreach coordinator for the IAFF Center of Excellence. The interview has gone really great. She talked about her work as offering support, providing education, connecting people to behavioral health resources. She's talked about even doing work in the community and I think she said go Seminoles for Florida State University fans on here. So here is the second part of the interview.

Speaker 2:

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Speaker 2:

I've had a few clients talk about that fire pit and what I mean by that is the center of excellence for the IFF. It was really clinically there was really good for them. But they said that the letting go, the, the actual clinical internalization sorry to bore you with clinical words really occurred around that fire pit. And the other thing, too, that I want to emphasize and help me out a little bit too, is that it's not. There's two things. These are not like a hospital bed next to a hospital bed, all white. This is not how the facility looks, and I, you know, I want to. I want people to understand. You know I don't plug things unless I believe them, but this is the one thing that was a selling point for at least one of my clients. That was really helpful.

Speaker 2:

The other thing I want to mention in regards to that is that the center itself doesn't make you feel like you're a patient, and what I mean by that is when you go to a hospital, there's clearly this is the boss, this is the clinical person, here's the nurse, here's the doctor. And the other part, too, that my clients have shared with me was like you really felt like a human being in there, but other human beings some of them had roles. We respected their roles, but we understood that we're all human beings. And that's another great part of the IFF Center of Excellence, my experience. But please tell me more, because I've never been there. Hopefully one day I'll go do a tour.

Speaker 3:

I was going to say we have to schedule a tour, steve, I can't believe that's not been on our. Well, that's where we can meet up is in Maryland.

Speaker 2:

Middle ground really between Massachusetts and Florida, kind of Exactly.

Speaker 3:

Perfect Quick plate for both of us. But yes, so the IFF Center of Excellence. One unique aspect of it as well is it is the only treatment facility that has the IFF's oversight and approval over everything that we do. Their fingerprints are all over not only the structure of our programming, the way that individuals are trained and the way that programming is held, but the way that the environment is set up, from the kitchen to be mirroring how it looks back at the station house, with that gathering tables and those breaking bread together, to the station houses where individuals sleep at night, and everywhere in between, has the IFF's fingerprint on it too and has that complete oversight. We can't do anything without the IFF being aware of what we're doing and having direct reporting of everything in a confidential manner, of course, but of our processes to make sure that it is the highest quality of care for IFF members and to make sure that it makes sense for fire service members, and so that's something that's really important too and really separates that from maybe some other programs or facilities.

Speaker 3:

Now, the IFF Center of Excellence is exclusively for IFF members. It is duly licensed for both primary mental health and primary substance use, so that's another really important factor that I hope can be beneficial and validating to members is there's definitely not a one size fits all that. Reasons may come that individuals may come to us. It may be from mental health, anxiety, depression, ptsd, complicated grief, ocd or other mental health challenges. It may be from substance abuse. If they need medical detox, we have that as well on campus with the same clinical and medical team, and it may be co-occurring, which we are seeing quite frequently due to a high utilization of substances out of a you know, out of a need or an attempt to feel better and maybe leaning on substances in the process without having other coping skills to call upon. But it doesn't have to be one or the other. We have a dual licensure so we can treat a wide variety of behavioral health challenges. Now we have been open since 2017. We are just a few individuals away from hitting that 4,000 members treated on campus since 2017. And these come from at least one individual treated from all 50 states, as well as five provinces in Canada. So although it's in Maryland, it is certainly not exclusive to individuals in that pocket or corner of the country. We are seeing a wide representation of IFF members, which is really unique to have that ability to connect and network with IFF members from all corners of the country in Canada.

Speaker 3:

Now I will say everything is very individualized, including length of stay. A lot of times individuals are wondering before coming in how long can I expect to stay there? It is individualized. We do see an average length of stay to be about 35 to 45 days, but could be a little less, could be a little bit more.

Speaker 3:

It really just depends on how is their treatment evolving, how are they interacting in groups? How are they responding to medications, if that's applicable, and that's kind of how our curriculum is set up for the best possible outcome upon discharge. Now let's say someone's tuning in today and they are from, you know, the West, or they're from the South, or it's not a drivable distance, although it is located in Upper Marlboro, maryland, to be able to have that 15 acre rural campus. It is only about 45 minutes outside of Washington DC. So that way there are three nearby airports that individuals can fly into and then we will have pickups coordinated from Center of Excellence staff to those airports to make sure that your members are safely and quickly transitioned into treatment with a friendly face from the facility as well.

Speaker 2:

And I can vouch for that too, for someone who went from Massachusetts there a couple of times actually. So I can vouch for that personally. That's true. One of the there's so many things that you just said that I feel I can go on and on and one of the I'm going to start off with one the other benefit that people don't understand about being from all over the country Sometimes it's hard to talk to your peer support in your, in your own, you know, in your firehouse, in your area, county, state, cities, town, village. I just I want to try to hit everyone, so I don't exclude anyone.

Speaker 2:

But one of the things that one of the one of my, the members who have gone there, who said to me you know, sometimes I call the guy in, we'll say Colorado, it's not Colorado, I don't want to protect the innocent. Sometimes I call the guy in, we'll say Colorado, it's not Colorado, I want to protect the innocent. And sometimes it's just easier to say to someone who's not in the firehouse, and vice versa they exchange, it's an equal exchange. But I think that, being all over the country, in five provinces which, again, if you ask me, those are the two best countries in the world, but I might be a little biased. But I might be a little biased, but the point is is I think that that's one of the things I think is a huge advantage of the Center of Excellence for IAFF is having people from all, because now you make contacts all over the country.

Speaker 3:

I'm sure you have some stories that you can omit the information to share, but yeah, and I was going to say too, I think, learning from the experiences of others in various areas of the country, having that long-term relationship.

Speaker 3:

You know, once they discharge they're added to alumni groups. They have the opportunity to kind of keep that conversation going, keep that networking going both in, you know, virtual recovery group options as well as an alumni group and so, you know, sharing that information, most of these individuals come home and a lot of times they become kind of the behavioral health champions for their department or for their local and a lot of times they become kind of the behavioral health champions for their department or for their local and a lot of times then become peers. And so to have all of this contact, information and, you know, long lasting relationships with individuals from all over the country, sharing ideas, sharing SOPs, sharing, you know, all these different aspects of how they're building their behavioral health program and their peer support program can be really cool as well. And it is neat to see kind of that ongoing relationship building and kind of what can come from that relationship as well.

Speaker 2:

You talked about the dual diagnosis. The other problem I find in Massachusetts is very good at the healthcare system, but for first responders it's still primitive, and what I mean by that is there is no strict mental health facility in Massachusetts for first responders. And I think that that's important too, because if you have someone who's struggling with again, we'll go with a stereotype PTSD. Go see YouTube. I'm rolling my eyes as we speak. But let's go with PTSD, but you don't have any substance use per se. Then they got to like either drink or they got to be smoking, and then then it becomes complex to get them in. So the fact that this center of excellence takes on a straight as as I call in my clinical world, straight mental health is such a unique perspective and there's not many of those in the United States that do that for first responders, particularly firefighters.

Speaker 3:

And I want to just touch on your comment about PTSD, because I agree with you is I think that is, of course, the stereotypical disorder for first responders and it's of course all of them have PTSD, which is not true. All of them have PTSD from the job, which is not true. And so we get calls sometimes from individuals that say, hey, I think I'm struggling with trauma, but it is not related to the fire service. It's from childhood or from the military or from something else in my life. Would this be eligible? Absolutely. This is a facility that has the expertise in working with firefighters, but firefighters are complex human beings. They're not just coming into the job, as you know, robots, and then exposed to potentially traumatic events and then getting PTSD from the job. There's a lot that comes to a person's individual life experiences, family upbringing, characteristics, personalities, you name it and so we are seeing a lot of firefighters that are coming in. Perhaps they may have PTSD, but it's not always tied to the job as well, and I think that's really important to validate that, no matter what your experience is, it is valid and there is help and support for you. We're also seeing a ton of marital struggles. We're seeing a lot of individuals that maybe are feeling like they've been kind of coping as they go, but their stress and their compassion, fatigue and their burnout or whatever it is is reaching a point that makes it hard to get out of bed in the morning, makes it hard to have motivation to go to work. We are having people that are coming in struggling with substances, but sometimes, like you said, it's just for that mental health and we're able to treat that as well.

Speaker 3:

So certainly not a one size fits all treatment plan and certainly not a one size fits all reason that individuals call us either. We see individuals that have been on the job for weeks. We see individuals that have been on the job for 35 years and everything in between. So there's no right or wrong time to call and ask for help. I also think there's a misconception that one has to reach crisis before they reach out and ask for help. But we want individuals to know that there is so much support before you reach crisis. We don't want anybody ever reaching the point of crisis and just know that there is so much out there, including the Center of Excellence, that you don't have to wait until the peak of crisis before reaching out for help, and we really want that to be something that individuals know as well. If you're suffering or struggling at all, please reach out to whatever capacity of resource you're looking for. There is so much out there and you don't have to wait until it's really really bad or really really uncomfortable before doing so.

Speaker 2:

Took the words right out of my mouth. I think that that's. I was laughing. You don't need to wait till you're on the verge of whatever we call Section 12 in Massachusetts, where you're suicidal, homicidal, lacking judgment, in order to go and get some support, the marital stuff. You talk about that.

Speaker 2:

The other part too, that sometimes with the mental health part that really pushes down on firefighters in particular, that's not talked about. I talk about it all the time but it's not a fun subject. It's called administrative betrayal and people don't understand how hurtful that is and how much that weighs, because it doesn't only have an impact for the work, it has an impact for the family, it has an impact for when they're in the community and so on and so forth. I wanted to mention that because I think that you know people are like well, administrative betrayal, that's not really a mental health issue, not if it's fucking up your life in four different ways. It's absolutely an issue.

Speaker 2:

And sometimes, going to your peer support who maybe is friends with the LT you want to talk about or what have you and I'm making it up as I go here Well then you know where do you go. Well, that's why the center of excellence exists. That's why therapy exists. That's why there's other parts where you can get the intervention. I'm sure that you see that too, at the center of excellence.

Speaker 3:

Oh, absolutely. I'm really glad that you brought that up because I think administrative betrayal also ties into why having culturally competent providers is so important. Because if you go to a general therapist that has no experience working with first responders and present the distressing experiences of administrative betrayal that you're experiencing, they may not know how to be you know handling that or be best equipped to do so. Administrative betrayal is unfortunately common with not only firefighters but with other first responders as well, and can be completely distressing, can be difficult to continue finding motivation to go to work and do your job and feeling the impacts every day and, as you mentioned, affecting family, affecting health, affecting job. All of these aspects and that kind of makes me think of the issue of moral injury as well, I think it can be kind of a subsection of moral injury.

Speaker 3:

Moral injury is not a diagnosable condition in the DSM-5. It doesn't mean that it is not incredibly, you know, running rampant within the fire service and first responder communities and certainly can be very distressing and unfortunately, in the most severe of circumstances can also cause increased risk of suicide and really really challenging situations. And so certainly administrative betrayal, moral injury, burnout, compassion, fatigue none of these are diagnosable conditions such as PTSD or depression. But that does not take away from the incredible impact that they have on individuals and their families as well, and certainly something that our team is very accustomed to supporting individuals through.

Speaker 2:

I really appreciate you talking about that because it's so common. It was the number one stressors, the stressor number one by and I can't remember the exact number, I think it was 80% in the survey I did. I know it's a small sample, but it was like 57 or so people.

Speaker 3:

I mean that's an alarming percentage.

Speaker 2:

But I think that that's where you need to be able to go somewhere and talk about it, because that's great to go, talk to your peer support. But again, what I hear all the time is you know, when this happened, it really gave me. They don't say moral injury, but we'll say moral injury just for an example here. And then you're like well, you, you know, I'm friends with the lieutenant and the lieutenant's always right, or I'll tell him, you said that, or whatever there's. You know, firefighters, they're, they're they're words, not mine. They're a chatty bunch who like to bitch and moan to each other. Those are not my words, those are their words and I agree with them for the record. But sometimes you feel uncomfortable saying and when it's been hurtful and it affected you as a worker or whatever, where do you go with that? Well, now we have some other options we can offer.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely and I think really. Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you.

Speaker 2:

No worries, go ahead.

Speaker 3:

I was just going to say it. Really, you know. I hope that this can be validating for individuals that might be struggling and knowing that you don't have to be able to pinpoint exactly what you're struggling with, if you're struggling at all, whether it is one thing that you can think of or it's a combination, or, in general, you have just felt a decline, or felt a decline in motivation, a decline in your health, a decline in just the happiness within your home. You know, whatever it may be, you don't have to know exactly what's going on, but there are people out here that will, that will help you navigate and help you get to the other side and help you to give you tools to be able to feel more present within yourself.

Speaker 3:

I always say I love to feel that my feet and my mind are grounded in the same place, because when I'm struggling, I'm physically present but my mind is elsewhere. I'm just feeling very blurry, very hazy. I'm just, my mind is just. It's not even that I'm overthinking, I just my brain is so overwhelmed I can't even generate thoughts and that really impacts my ability to be mindful and be present in my relationships and in my home and just within myself, and that's just such a crappy feeling and something that I think a lot of people are are experiencing, and perhaps experiencing for long, extended periods of time and then only kind of starting to increase in severity and there is so much freedom that comes to reaching out and asking for help and just seeing the you know impacts and kind of the shift in how that changes your entire life.

Speaker 2:

The other thing I want to mention, because that's the other part too, is noticing all those things. I'm going to speak from my experience, but I'm pretty sure you're going to concur. So I don't have a magic wand to fix people in two weeks or three weeks. It's not downstairs, it's not upstairs, it's not even my house. I don't know where it is. I do not have the magic wand, and I'm assuming that the center of excellence, while very good, in 35 days it's not like oh my God, I'm a new person, I'm all set. One of the things about the IFF center of excellence is, I think, that the message one of my firefighters really liked was this is really good, but you still need to continue working on yourself. So one of the things I want to mention you know a little bit too is don't be in a rush Cause again, if you've had a problem for 20 years, it's not going to be fixing itself in 35 days. That's just not how it works.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. I always say you know you're a change, you may be a changed person, but you're coming back to an unchanged environment. And so you are coming back exactly to the environment that you had left, and it can be very challenging to lean on those lessons learned, those coping skills developed, the processing that was done and all of the healing that you encountered while in treatment. But it is just the kind of tip of the iceberg. It is just the beginning of your healing journey, but it does require ongoing care, ongoing support, ongoing outpatient therapy Sometimes it's ongoing medication, whatever that is for each individual, and so I think it's really important to know that it is really the start of your healing journey.

Speaker 3:

Our team works really hard to set people up with vetted, culturally competent providers so that when they do return home they can continue to engage in the learning and the healing and the processing that they did on campus. But it is not a quick fix, it is not a magic wand and I think it can be daunting to imagine it that way, like, oh, I really want to go and just come back and be fixed forever. But again, humans are multidimensional people. Mental health is not a black and white type of kind of checkbox that we went through treatment and we're good to go. It's an ongoing journey, but the benefit of that is learning the tools, to master those tools, to put it into practice and to just continue the work and continue to feel better and knowing that you know if you start to kind of fall back again, these resources are still here to help you get back on track too.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to share a little bit. When I have first responders or anyone but first responders my specialty they go. Well, how long do I have to be in therapy? So well, let me put it this way I started off with weekly therapy after my third death in 10 days in my job and I needed therapy way before that. That just triggered a lot of shit and I had to go to therapy every week and then eventually I went to every other week and now I go anywhere from three to four weeks, sometimes six weeks, depending on how good or how bad I'm doing. And, frankly, recently I went every two weeks for a short walk because I had something I had to work out on.

Speaker 2:

This journey started in 2004. We're recording this in 2025. And I don't see myself ever being completely done, and maybe I'll go to six to eight weeks, and that's great. And I've got guys who come in every three months after seeing me, sometimes twice a week for a while.

Speaker 2:

At the end of the day, I want to share that personal story, not to make it about me per se, but to explain that the magic wand doesn't exist. Because I'll tell you what if I was a magic wand, I'd be using it on myself. I'm sorry to be selfish, but that's how it would be. So I think that that's the story I share, because I think that one of the other things too. We're going to finish a bit of cultural competency a little bit here, and then I want to go a little more about the center, the cost, the insurance and all that stuff.

Speaker 2:

You know, when we talk about a cultural competency, you need to share about yourself as a first, as a therapist with first responders, because you're not authentic if you're not and I think that people know that about me, obviously, listening to podcasts, but they've one of the other part of therapy oh, I can't tell them this. I'm like you're not going to connect ever with a first responder If you can't say this or can't say that you don't want to invite them to your barbecue. I get that and they get that and they get that, but that, if you don't share a little bit about yourself, you don't seem authentic. And that's very important about cultural competency, in my opinion.

Speaker 3:

I agree completely Because, as you said, there's a part of cultural competency that is about the discipline and the learning about aspects of the job and learning the culture.

Speaker 3:

But there is an entirely other side of that, as you mentioned, with building that rapport being a trustworthy person, being somebody that they want to be around, being somebody that they trust, that they know has their best intention, and a lot of times that comes from finding ways to connect in how you got to where you are and why you're so caring about your position and all of these aspects as well, and I want to thank you for sharing those experiences with me and on this podcast, and I'll echo what you mentioned too.

Speaker 3:

Just personally, the reason why I became a social worker was from childhood and going through therapy and figuring out those strategies to be able to live, to be able to work through a lot of my challenges as well and, depending on the severity, depending on the season of life, sometimes it was more frequently, sometimes there was more space in between and it's never something that's going to be a forever closed chapter.

Speaker 3:

You know there are times, such as new motherhood, such as new jobs or new seasons in life, that is normal to feel, you know what, maybe I need a little tune up, a little check in and let me kind of loop back in my provider or perhaps find a different provider, depending on what the specific circumstance is. And so I appreciate you sharing that and I'll certainly echo that for myself as well and for any clinicians that are on, you know, listening to this too, just finding ways to connect and really connect from really that person perspective. It's very important to be a professional and maintain professional boundaries, of course, but, as you said, first responders really want to feel that they can connect and that this is someone that is, you know, a friendly, familiar face that they can really just settle in and get comfortable with for the long haul.

Speaker 2:

Well, you know, I appreciate you sharing that number one. You know, I think that me and you have to start a group soon Just for us therapists to talk about this stuff together. Uh, but, um, you know, as we we're getting close to the hour already, oh, I end up being too, too sad to two full episodes here we always do this steve, we always go after our time again. I'm nowhere on the podcast here, but I'm gonna share. Have we ever either like finished on time or anything else like that?

Speaker 3:

I was going to say never. It has always been extended. But like mutually glad it has been extended. I mean, I can't speak for you, but I feel like we've always been on the same page, that we're like ah, it's fine, let's just keep it rolling.

Speaker 2:

You know I'll, I'll share with the audience. I know you're right here, but I'm going to pretend you're not here. The other, she could never lie to me. And I can't lie to her because, like, my face tells the story, or my voice, or like yeah, yeah or whatever. I, I can't hide how I feel and it's clear that we actually enjoy talking to each other. We always go over. So I want to share that with everyone because that's truly how I perceive you. I'm pretty sure if I ever pissed you off, it would. We, we, we touched on this right beforehand on a different subject. I'm just going to keep private for me and you and you're like, oh no, no, don't worry, I'll tell you. Oh yeah, don't worry. So, and I should have never doubted her honestly. But to finish off a little bit, tell us about how we can get into the Center of Excellence. You know insurance and missions. Do I just show up at Hannah's place or what do I do here?

Speaker 3:

Come on down to Florida. I'm just kidding. Yes, so the IFF Center of Excellence. We do have a parent company that is called Advanced Recovery Systems. Advanced Recovery Systems owns and operates the kind of behavioral health treatment facility of the IFF Center of Excellence. It is a partnership between Advanced Recovery Systems and the IFF. Now, with that being said, Advanced Recovery Systems does have a dozen inpatient treatment facilities for civilians all over the country.

Speaker 3:

Now I bring this up to mention that we do have a 24-7 admissions team call center that is operated by Advanced Recovery Systems. But we have specific intake team members on the admissions team that works with our IFF members, and so there's sometimes this confusion when they see a callback and maybe somebody identifies as advanced recovery systems, that is just because that is one call center operated by advanced recovery systems. But there would never be a situation where an IFF member is filtered elsewhere or, you know, recommended to go somewhere. I mean, they will go to the IFF center of excellence if that is what their preference and that is the IFF's expectation as well. But I say that to share. We do have a 24-7 admissions team and so no matter what time of day, no matter what day of the week, no matter if it's a holiday weekend. Two in the morning. If somebody wants to initiate this conversation, you can try to reach me, but if it's the middle of the night, I'm a pretty heavy sleeper, so I'll call you back in the morning, but I don't want you waiting on me and so in the meantime, until you can reach me, the admissions team is always there.

Speaker 3:

They are able to get the insurance information and then be able to provide each individual what their exact deductible, co-insurance rate and out-of-pocket max for the year looks like. The cost of treatment is completely dependent on what your insurance carrier and what your specific plan is. Now I will say we are in network with most major insurances, between the Blue Cross, Blue Shield, the Aetnas, the Cigna's, the United Health Cares. We have a ton of direct contracts with municipalities to eliminate any barriers to accessing care. To know what your specific breakdown is, let's connect offline care. To know what your specific breakdown is, let's connect offline.

Speaker 3:

We like to be able to have this be available for departments and local leadership to share with their members so that individuals can see oh, this is how much it would cost to go to treatment, and a lot of times it's a lot less than I think a lot of individuals may think, because we are a network with most major insurances.

Speaker 3:

So let's say somebody calls into the admissions team, the insurance information is collected and delivered back to the individual so they know before coming to treatment what that out-of-pocket would look like.

Speaker 3:

They would then do a pre-assessment over the phone with the admissions team which looks at medical psychological history, gets a little bit more information as to what they are struggling with. All of that gets kind of put together into a clinical summary that gets sent over to our medical director at the Center of Excellence, who is a psychiatrist. She will then review that and make sure that before they come to us that we have determined they are a good fit for treatment, because we would never want somebody to fly across the country and arrive in Maryland and for whatever reason, and not be a good fit. So we do that on the front end. Once that clinical approval is given, our admissions team will help coordinate the logistics of travel, whether it be car, plane, train, whatever means they want to get to us. We will schedule that so that when they do either arrive at the airport for the pickup or arrive at the facility, they can immediately jump right into treatment, with no waiting period, no line, no bed availability issues.

Speaker 3:

We want to get them transitioned right into treatment right when they get there. Now, ways that I can help to facilitate this process, make it go faster, make it more personal for you. I'm happy to work in partnership with the member themselves, with their peer, with their local leadership, their spouse, their clinician. Steve, you and I have worked together for these purposes. However, I can help make this as comfortable and quick as possible. That's something that I do. Our admissions team does incredible work and I would never, you know, replicate what they're doing. But in effort to keep it familiar and keep it easy, you can always call me.

Speaker 3:

I'm happy to answer any preliminary questions a member may have, help them feel comfortable in progressing to the next step.

Speaker 3:

If they want to stay on the line, I can call into our admissions team and then introduce them from there and then kind of be that supportive individual along that process. If there's a peer involved or a clinician involved, I'll keep them updated as to the timeline of what we're looking at and then up to when they land at the airport, to make sure that everyone knows that everyone is safe and progressing towards their care, and so I'm available, however I can be, whether it be questions or to initiate the admissions process, to connect to an outpatient therapist in your area, to host a behavioral health training or anything in between. I would love to be able to connect with any of you guys, whether you are a clinician or a fire service professional. However, I can be of support and kind of compliment the work that your peer team is doing, be an extension of support or kind of jump in. If maybe behavioral health is a newer part of your local. Would love to share ideas and resources as well.

Speaker 2:

Well, this is all true, by the way, I can tell you, and I absolutely we've been through this a couple of times, me and you at least, but I want to make sure that I also I mean, I like confirming stuff this is absolutely true. So I want to make sure everyone heard me say that, and you again, you've listened to 219 episodes, or whatever my number is at. You know that I don't lie and that's absolutely all true. So I hope people hear me say that. So now, finally, how do we reach you or the Center of Excellence, or anything else?

Speaker 3:

Thank you. So my direct cell phone number I would love all of you all to save it and, you know, save it for a rainy day, if ever needed. My direct cell phone number is 727-506-9036, 727-506-9036, which is 727-506-9036. And then to reach our 24-7 admissions team, at any time, you can call 855-441-3024. My email address is helmore H-E-L-M-O-R-E at advancedrecoverysystemscom.

Speaker 3:

Advanced with a D, I will say Recoverysystems with an Scom, and then the website for the IFF Center of Excellence is wwwiaffrecoverycentercom. I will shout out the website has a ton of resources that you can go in and print out for peer teams. A lot of them have booklets with these resources and kind of pull them as needed Supportive resources for learning how to talk to kiddos about some of these issues, how to support crew members returning from treatment, and a lot of additional information on the IFF Center of Excellence. And then our webinar library is also on the website. So, although we have two live webinars a month that we would love you to join us on and be able to ask live questions and network with each other in the chat box, there's also a library of recorded webinars that have been going on for the last five years to kind of view on demand as well.

Speaker 2:

I can vouch for the website, so go ahead and it'll be all on the show notes. I'll put all the phone numbers too the other part too before we go, other than saying thank you, absolutely, adore working with you, can't wait to meet in Maryland. Apparently, that's our next trip.

Speaker 3:

Yes, I can't wait.

Speaker 2:

We'll figure it out when out offline. The other part too. I want to hear it, I want everyone to hear. I call Hannah. Hannah set up everything for my client and then she was offline because she has a life outside of work, go figure and she had two people call me to confirm picking them up and landing and being in the center of excellence for the IFF. So this is all true. Again, I have my personal experience with that and I vouch for them a hundred percent. So I want to thank you for your time.

Speaker 2:

This was, again too long and yet felt like and not only that, I mean like I literally feel like it was like 20 minutes.

Speaker 3:

Me too. No, it is always such a joy and a pleasure to talk to you, steve, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to join today and to share this resource and really just continue to just talk about behavioral health and the fire service and really shine a light to it and thank you for all that you do each and every day and I'm just so thankful for each and every interaction with you. So it was a joy and a pleasure to be here with you today and for everyone out there listening. I look forward to the opportunity to work with you and serve your members if any questions or needs come up, and let's keep on shining a light and ending the stigma and really doing our proactive steps to working towards a better behavioral health wellness for all. So thank you, steve.

Speaker 2:

I could not have said it better myself. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, Steve.

Speaker 2:

Hi. Well, this completes episode 219. Hannah Elmore, I cannot thank you enough and, yes, I'm looking forward to go to Maryland just to see the IFF Center of Excellence. All the show notes will show the connection with phone numbers and everything else you need. They'll be included on there and I hope you join us for episode 220 with Bill Dwanell, a colleague of mine who we work on. He's a co-owner of a company we're working on, so I hope you join us then. Colleague of mine who we work on.

Speaker 1:

He's a co-owner of a company we're working on, so I hope you join us. Then Please like, subscribe and follow this podcast on your favorite platform. A glowing review is always helpful and, as a reminder, this podcast is for informational, educational and entertainment purposes only. If you're struggling with a mental health or substance abuse issue, please reach out to a professional counselor for consultation. If you are in a mental health crisis, call 988 for assistance. This number is available in the United States and Canada.

People on this episode

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Steve Bisson

Host
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Courtney Romanowski

Co-host
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Hannah Elmore

Guest