PTSD Prevention & Awareness in Public Safety
First responder behavioral health starts with workplace safety.
The American Board of First Responder Behavioral Healthcare (FRBH) is an independent national nonprofit organization dedicated to occupational PTSD prevention and awareness in public safety.
FRBH raises awareness of traumatic exposure as a workplace hazard and advances prevention as an organizational responsibility, one that begins before anyone is harmed or has to ask for help.
The American Board of First Responder Behavioral Healthcare (FRBH) is an independent national nonprofit organization dedicated to occupational PTSD prevention and awareness in public safety.
FRBH raises awareness of traumatic exposure as a workplace hazard and advances prevention as an organizational responsibility, one that begins before anyone is harmed or has to ask for help.
Recognizing Traumatic Exposure as a Workplace Hazard
Public safety work carries foreseeable traumatic exposures, such as line-of-duty deaths, mass-casualty events, pediatric fatalities, and serious injury or death to personnel.
These exposures are workplace hazards. Recognition of occupational PTSD must be accompanied by greater attention to prevention in the workplace.
Treating traumatic exposure as a workplace hazard brings the work environment, and the organization’s responsibility for protecting its personnel, into the conversation about first responder behavioral health.
These exposures are workplace hazards. Recognition of occupational PTSD must be accompanied by greater attention to prevention in the workplace.
Treating traumatic exposure as a workplace hazard brings the work environment, and the organization’s responsibility for protecting its personnel, into the conversation about first responder behavioral health.
Advancing Prevention Through Education & Advocacy
Employee assistance programs, peer support teams, chaplains, and behavioral health professionals provide essential support to first responders and their families. Prevention also depends on the work environment and the conditions that produce traumatic exposure.
FRBH works to:
☑ Increase awareness of traumatic exposure as a workplace hazard.
☑ Clarify its connection to occupational PTSD.
☑ Promote workplace safety as a foundation of first responder behavioral health.
☑ Advance prevention as an organizational responsibility.
FRBH calls on public safety leaders to address traumatic exposure within workplace safety planning, as they do for other recognized hazards of the job. FRBH brings this message to public safety leadership, policy discussions, and the public.
FRBH works to:
☑ Increase awareness of traumatic exposure as a workplace hazard.
☑ Clarify its connection to occupational PTSD.
☑ Promote workplace safety as a foundation of first responder behavioral health.
☑ Advance prevention as an organizational responsibility.
FRBH calls on public safety leaders to address traumatic exposure within workplace safety planning, as they do for other recognized hazards of the job. FRBH brings this message to public safety leadership, policy discussions, and the public.
Across Public Safety
FRBH’s mission encompasses personnel serving in:
🚒 Fire Service
🚑 Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
🚔 Law Enforcement
📞 Public Safety Communications / Dispatch
🔒 Corrections
🌲 Wildland Fire
🌪️ Emergency Management
🏛️ Federal Public Safety Organizations
This includes personnel across ranks, assignments, and employment classifications, including those whose work takes place beyond the incident scene.
🚒 Fire Service
🚑 Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
🚔 Law Enforcement
📞 Public Safety Communications / Dispatch
🔒 Corrections
🌲 Wildland Fire
🌪️ Emergency Management
🏛️ Federal Public Safety Organizations
This includes personnel across ranks, assignments, and employment classifications, including those whose work takes place beyond the incident scene.
SCOPE: The American Board of First Responder Behavioral Healthcare (FRBH) is an independent national nonprofit organization advancing occupational PTSD prevention and awareness through education and advocacy. FRBH does not provide clinical care, consulting, certification, or accreditation.