'Protecting the protectors': First responders discuss mental health resources

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Current and former police officers are speaking up about the importance of mental health amongst first responders on Thursday, Feb. 29.  It’s called the First Responders Resilience Event.

It aims to provide mental health resources to firefighters, EMTs, police officers, and other first responders who deal with traumatic events day in and day out. First responders say they want to send a message to their peers: it's okay to ask for help. 

In times of tragedy, people reach for the phone to call for help, but who helps first responders when they need it? It’s a question retired police chief Dave Funkhouser hopes to answer.

"It affected not only my personal life, but also my professional life," said Funkhouser. "We want to get awareness out there that it’s okay to not be okay.”

Mental health isn’t easy to talk about.

"Over time, it can really accumulate the levels of stress, the moral injury that can psychologically cause problems for the first responder community," said Wauwatosa Police Chief James MacGillis.

Funkhouser says it’s even more difficult to ask when you’re a first responder.

“So often, especially early on in my career, you were looked on as being weak or unfit for duty if you weren’t able to handle these extreme things and we were always taught if you were at a scene you had to keep your composure and keep your professionalism," said Funkhouser. 

MacGillis, remembers the first time he needed help.

“I’ll just say it was early in my career and it affects people differently. But we’re human beings and we need support," said MacGillis. 

MacGillis says he hopes other first responders know that while they're protecting their communities, they remember to protect their own well-being, too.