Responder trauma is chronic, cumulative, and inherent to public safety work.

Many behavioral health approaches used in public safety were adapted from general population models that rely on self-disclosure, crisis recognition, and individual initiative, resulting in inconsistent access, delayed intervention, and uneven system performance.

When responsibility rests on individuals rather than organizations, gaps in protection are unavoidable.

FRBH exists to address this structural limitation by establishing system-based standards that define how responder behavioral health systems are expected to function at the organizational level—before crisis, without reliance on self-identification, and across the full career span.

FRBH establishes the FRBH National Standard for Responder Behavioral Health Systems—the national benchmark for how public safety organizations design, govern, and sustain behavioral health systems for trauma-exposed workforces.

The standard defines requirements for:

• Organizational accountability

• Operational integration

• Continuous system readiness

These requirements ensure that access to behavioral health support is not contingent on crisis, self-disclosure, or individual navigation.

This is not a program.

It is the national framework that defines organizational responsibility in responder behavioral health.

FRBH operates independently from service providers, consultants, and implementation entities to preserve the integrity and objectivity of accreditation determinations.

FRBH standards apply to organizational systems and governance structures; they do not regulate individual clinicians, clinical licensure, or treatment decisions.

→ About FRBH

FRBH serves organizations and stakeholders responsible for establishing, overseeing, and advancing system-based behavioral health protection for trauma-exposed workforces, including:

• Public Safety Agencies seeking nationally recognized accreditation for responder behavioral health systems

• Government and policy leaders responsible for workforce protection standards and oversight

• Funders and partners supporting the adoption and implementation of national benchmarks for responder behavioral health systems

FRBH accredits public safety agencies that demonstrate conformance with nationally defined, system-level requirements for responder behavioral health.

Accreditation verifies that organizational systems are:

• Governed and accountable at the organizational level

• Integrated into public safety operations

• Designed to function proactively and consistently over time

FRBH accreditation is voluntary, independent, and non-governmental, and serves as the national benchmark for behavioral health system integrity in public safety.

→ Become Accredited

Sustained Functional Resilience™ (SFR) is a system-activated behavioral health protection framework developed for high-risk, trauma-exposed workforces, including public safety and emergency response organizations.

SFR conceptualizes behavioral health protection as organizational safety infrastructure, emphasizing automatic activation, governance, and sustained accountability aligned with operational realities such as high operational tempo, cumulative exposure to critical incidents, and occupational culture.

Concepts reflected in SFR contributed to early thinking about system-level behavioral health protection and informed aspects of FRBH’s standards development, alongside other evidence-aligned systems models and established occupational prevention frameworks.

FRBH accreditation is framework-neutral. Organizations may meet accreditation requirements using any evidence-informed, culturally appropriate approach that satisfies published FRBH standards. No specific framework or model is required or endorsed.

FRBH advances consistent, evidence-aligned system design for responder behavioral health by

• Translating existing research and established practice into operationally applicable national standards

• Aligning accreditation criteria with established behavioral health knowledge, occupational research, and public safety doctrine

• Informing state and federal public safety policy discussions related to workforce behavioral health systems

• Integrating operational leadership experience, behavioral health expertise, and system governance principles

FRBH does not conduct original clinical, academic, or scientific research. Its role is to define, maintain, and accredit organizational standards grounded in existing evidence and public safety practice.

This approach supports nationwide adoption of consistent, responder-specific behavioral health system benchmarks without duplicating research functions of academic, governmental, or scientific institutions.

The FRBH Access Fund supports broader adoption of national accreditation standards by reducing financial barriers for eligible public safety agencies.

The Fund is intended to facilitate participation by rural, volunteer, and resource-constrained organizations, ensuring that access to nationally recognized system-level benchmarks is not limited by organizational size or funding capacity.

→ Access Fund Inquiries