2021 Peer Support Training Opportunity
RED Friday Peer Support Team Training is available for up to fifteen NSW RFS Volunteer Firefighters (fully sponsored by RED Friday).
RED Friday has created a program schedule specifically for NSW RFS Volunteers.
Note: You don’t have to be a member of the VFFA to participate.
The primary focus of the program is the development of the skills needed to provide a reliable internal support system at a Brigade level and a crisis response plan (external support programs) as needed.
The role of peer support in stress audits and returns to operational work is also explored.
This program covers roles and responsibilities, stigma, sleep hygiene, Amygdala awareness and stress response, PTSD symptomology, effective communication and active listening, gratitude and meditation, grief and suicide, substance use and addiction, CISM intervention models and hybrids and solution-focused interviewing. We take a solution-focused approach to assisting co-workers with chronic or non-trauma-based issues where we explore their own experience and strengths to develop coping strategies rather than focusing on the ‘problem’. This has been found to be very effective in crisis call centres, individual therapy and other applications, and provides peers with a series of structured questions that allows them to help the client navigate their own solutions.
The program would be of value in any NSW RFS workplace and the VFFA is working with RED Friday to help build a support network for our Volunteer Firefighters.
Register your expression of interest by calling 1300 609 221 or complete the form (below). Leave your contact details on the recorded message and state that you are interested in the 2021 Peer Support Training Program.
History – RED Friday
RED Friday (www.redfriday.org) is a social enterprise dedicated to reducing the stigma around mental health and to funding mental wellness programs for veterans, nurses, first responders and their families.
They are a not for profit organisation. Among the charities they support is Can Praxis (www.canpraxis.com), an equine-based therapy facility.
RED Friday was started by two Canadian military wives whose husbands were deployed to Afghanistan. RED stands for Remember Everyone Deployed, and they encourage supporters to wear red on Fridays.
The founders are on the RED Friday advisory board, and the organisation is managed by military and public safety veterans.
RED Friday generates revenue through merchandise sales (https://redfridaycanada.ca/) and through providing coaching and training programs on workplace wellness and internal support systems such as peer support training programs. They are also developing programs for families affected by Occupational Stress Injuries in the home which will be offered at no cost to the end-user.
13th March 2020 – Firefighting in Canada this week
3rd March 2020 – A message from the VFFA
3rd March 2020 – A big shout out to the following sponsors:
3rd March 2020 – RED Friday Organization is stepping up to help
You have seen our firefighters battling the bushfires on the news. Now, some of our these brave men and women have another battle to fight against PTSD and other forms of Operational Stress Injury.
Through funding campaigns, the RED Friday Organization is stepping up to help safeguard the mental health of our Firefighters.
1st March 2020 – Bunkergear 911
29th February 2020 – I am #REDFridayOrg and I support #AustralianFirefighters
27th February 2020 – Caps are already moving…
Clearview Fire & Emergency Services, Clearview Township Ontario, Canada
Chief Roree Payment
22nd February 2020 – Dave Connor announces the launch of the RED Friday program to support Australian first responders.
http://www.redfriday.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/R.A.D.-VIDEO-.mp4The world is not such a large place and the VFFA is deeply moved when our international friends share a common interest in the health and welfare of our First Responders.
Sustained actions such as Australia’s wildfires dramatically increase the frequency and intensity of psychiatric injury, and it will take months or years of support to return to relative normalcy.
Buy now at redfriday.org or bunkergear.org