Certainly, we are worried about the Coronavirus epidemic and its’ current effect on our everyday lives. And yes, we are concerned. I would be lying to you if I didn’t say so. Concerned because of the unknowns, fearful for our families, concerned about the economy, and concerned about the unprecedented effects on our personal lives and the working lives of all our first responders.
We are working every day to improve the ability for folks to get counseling help. We are in contact with our peer team members and our clinicians all over the Lowcountry to be sure we can provide the level of behavioral care that is needed. Many of you, and some of us, are feeling emotions we have not experienced before, and we are constantly re-evaluating how we provide services to you.
Many of our clinicians are prepared to provide counseling by phone and through Telehealth in order to serve you without having you come into an office. We have over seventy peer team members on our Lowcountry Team that can help you initially and act as a direct connection to one of our clinicians. And, understand that one of the strongest traits of our peer team members is their ability to listen. From day one in our training, we are taught to be good listeners. Good listening skill does not always come naturally for us. It is an acquired ability, or talent if you will. It can be learned, and we have worked to get better.
We are blessed in our State to have many good listeners in the Support One Team, the First Responder Assistance & Support Team (F.A.S.T.), the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy, the South Carolina Public Safety Chaplains’ Association, our Lowcountry Firefighter/EMS/911 Support Teams, and the many individual organizations’ peer team around our State.
Please give us an opportunity to help you. We can be contacted any time, any day at 843-609-8300 or at www.firefightersupport.org.