“Success on the Homefront”
Eric and Debra Stephenson, from the Eastern Coast of North Carolina, are husband and wife and have served in Fire/EMS Services for a combined total of 54 years. They will be featured speakers at our 2021 Emergency Services Behavioral Health Summit being held in Charleston, South Carolina on July 15, 2021.
Eric spent the last 11 years of his career as a Captain with the Atlantic Beach Fire Department in Carteret County N.C. He is currently the Eastern North Carolina Director of the First Responder Peer Support Network.
Debra held the position of Battalion Chief with Pender EMS and Fire in Pender County N.C. where she served for 16 years. Debra is also a member of the First Responder Peer Support Network.
They will share their personal experiences of Eric’s PTSD struggles and how peer support and clinical care helped save their lives and marriage.
Eric and Debra now enjoy their time together in the outdoors and traveling as much as possible. They are both passionate advocates of mental health and suicide awareness for first responders evidenced by their daily work in the First Responder Peer Support Network.
Their presentation will provide insight on how a husband and wife, both with emergency services careers, managed and mismanaged work-related stressors, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideations. They will share their story and discuss key points on how to successfully overcome these obstacles and help turn the negatives into positives to have a healthy and happy home life.