Partner Profile: First Responders Resiliency
Susan Farren tells us about her nonprofit currently on the Higher Rewards Beta Program, First Responders Resiliency, which combats PTSD among first responders.
Whenever 911 is dialed in an emergency first responders must rush to the site to administer their services, many times without knowing the full details of the situation. They are always ready to serve and protect the civilians in their community to the best of their abilities. However, first responders are also prone to experiencing PTSD due to the situations they go through and many have its symptoms with ineffective treatments. As Farren puts it:
“Nobody calls 911 because they are having a good day, so you end up spending your entire career responding to people’s crisis but what we are never trained to do is take care of ourselves.”
As a former Paramedic herself, Susan Farren has first-hand experience of what first responders have to go through. She founded First Responders Resiliency Inc. to combat the all too familiar symptoms of PTSD in first responders.
“We protect people from what they are about to see, hear, and smell. Nothing, no TV show, movie, or class you go to, will ever prepare you for the physiological impacts of walking into a murder scene.”
“It came out of my own crisis.”
Farren had been working as a paramedic for thirty years when she was diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer. This led her to do independent research about organ cancer in first responders. Through her research, she discovered that when the body is repeatedly exposed to stress and trauma, there are neurological and physical changes that can result in illnesses like PTSD.
After her kidney tumor was removed, she used her year of research to craft a proactive program on how to combat PTSD in first responders before symptoms appeared, sold her home, and used the funds to launch First Responds Resiliency in January of 2018.
First Responders Resiliency is run by first responders and they work with doctors, therapists, and researchers to formulate proactive treatments towards PTSD. From what Farren knows it’s the First Program in the world to provide proactive training to first responders and in only two and a half years they have trained over 4,000 first responders who came from all over the world to work with CAL FIRE.
First Responders Resiliency has also done suicidal intervention and worked with individuals to help them get out of crises. As a result, they have seen many members get their careers, marriages, and lives back on track.
“We’ve gotten a letter or an email or a personal conversation with a first responder whose life has been transformed by the work we do.”
As a nonprofit organization with a new approach on how to combat PTSD, funding has been a struggle.
“What we really need are larger donations and grant money which we’ve had troubles accessing since we are relatively new.”
Farren believes that getting the word out is not the problem as she has seen interest grow from 40 people in her first-ever conference to 4,000 first responders who signed to work with CAL Fire.
“We are definitely hustling and getting the work done; I need sustainable financial support to be able to maintain this.”
This financial support would also be used to fund her goal of creating the first Resiliency Center, where first responders would be able to go anytime they are struggling, in crisis, or simply want to do preventative work.
“It would give us a place to call home.”
The center is exclusively for first responders to avoid any unwanted interactions with civilians. As Farren explains, if a firefighter, police officer, or paramedic has an alcohol problem, they are not going to attend an AA meeting that is open to the public since they will run the risk of seeing a patient.
“They cannot feel like they have a place to check-in and get some help.”
By creating this center, it would be a one-stop where first responders will have access to therapists, massages, art therapy, and other resources.
“I want every state to have some version of a First Responder Resiliency Center for First Responders so that when a first responder is beginning to struggle or are exposed to a trauma that they weren’t expecting, they have somewhere to go.”
As Farren has grown her nonprofit she has realized that one has to begin cultivating donations early. Working with Higher Rewards generates passive donations to First Responders and would allow her to focus on the business and helping First Responders instead of worrying about funding.
“Anytime we can get the support of people and communities that believe in our work and support us that’s a win-win for everybody, we are all about saving our community and we do that one person at a time and Higher Rewards Supports us in that effort so that we can continue to go about the business of saving lives.”
Higher Rewards provides members of an organization with a credit card that returns 2% of spending to the organization. As of now Higher Rewards is running their Beta test with First Responders Resiliency and is getting ready to support other organizations bringing positive change to the community.
