MILWAUKEE — Monday, The Milwaukee Fire Department announced they are partnering with Ignite the Spirit to provide essential mental health resources for firefighters through fully funded therapy sessions facilitated by licensed mental health professionals. The program is launching under the All-Hands Initiative, and Fire Lieutenant Joseph Flick founded Ignite the Spirit in 2018. He told WTMJ the importance of mental health for fire fighters.
Milwaukee Fire Department
— Julien Johnson (@jujuelz_is) April 29, 2024
announcing they’re partnering with Ignite the Spirit to give fully funded mental health resources to fire fighters.
Ignite the Spirit was created by Fire Lieutenant Joseph Flick and he explains what they’ve been doing since 2018.@620wtmj pic.twitter.com/5lLE4WbA79
“The culmination of everything that we go through and the traumas that we see… sometimes the human brain has a hard time dealing with that.” he said. “We want to make sure that that’s not what’s going to keep our people from being our best selves.”
He said although this is the official rollout for the program, the program has provided help for firefighters through any hardship they might’ve had over the last six years.
“Sometimes it’s injury and illness… Other times, untimely death, and [during] this time, we’ve been looking for ways we can proactively support their mental and behavioral health,” he said. “In years past, we’ve been providing immediate transportation for our firefighters to get to in patient treatment centers across the country.”
Flick said providing these fully funded therapy sessions was the next step to providing better mental and behavioral health no matter how long the process may take.
“The nice thing here is there’s no cap,” he said. “If it’s going to take a larger group of sessions to get [a firefighter] to feeling 100%, we’re willing to make that investment in each and every one of our firefighters.”
The services Ignite the Spirit was already providing is still available to people outside the Milwaukee area though.
“If you have a member that needs help, and you think that we can help provide that help, find us… and we’d be happy to make sure that member gets the resources that they need,” he said.
Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said he hopes the newest version of this program will start to uplift people at their stations.
“I want to see our members smile again… more,” he said. “I want to see our members maintain and strengthen the interpersonal relationships with each other, with their family members, and with their friends.”
Lipski said him and his firefighters were so used to “tightening up [their] straps [and going] to the next one”, but now they all understand the importance of prioritizing their mental health. He said he’s glad they’ve still been able to serve the people even though they used to have that mindset.
Fire Chief Aaron Lipski explains why they chose to prioritize mental health more for their fire fighters@620wtmj pic.twitter.com/xTCpY7FFfW
— Julien Johnson (@jujuelz_is) April 29, 2024
“In the past, probably five to ten years, that we [need] to give [mental health] the attention it’s due,” he said. “We do have to explore and define and treat, or hopefully prevent, the mental health crises that have started to grip fire and EMS personnel.”
He said there’s a big difference between what fire fighters deal with now versus in the past, especially with the increase in call volumes at their fire stations.
“We’re going on more mass casualty [incidents] now than I think at any point,” he said.
He described how traumatic it can be to handle these high risk situations.
Fire Chief Lipski explains some of the difficulties fire fighters go through on the daily@620wtmj pic.twitter.com/tZjDiooDi9
— Julien Johnson (@jujuelz_is) April 29, 2024
“These horrific car wrecks that are occurring… I don’t think people really understand what that looks like or feels like or sounds like,” he said. “When you have to go and actually cut a person… separate them from the vehicle they are traveling in.”
He said the impact of incidents such as car wrecks, fires, and gun violence all have lasting impact on kids, families, and especially their fire fighters.
“It has a cumulative effect. I don’t think it goes away,” he said. “Because we’re doing it more and the intensity is greater… the accumulation is stacking up and backing up on our fire fighters quicker.”
The new mental health resources for the program will begin to rollout on May 1st, which is the first day of Mental Health Awareness Month.
