BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES

NFPA 1580 (Standard for Emergency Responder Occupational Health and Wellness) integrated comprehensive behavioral health, mental wellness, and stress management into firefighter health standards. Our psychologists review a behavioral health screening and we administer psychological testing to ensure firefighters, paramedics, and EMT personnel are free from psychiatric symptoms that may affect their ability to safely and effectively perform essential job tasks. We offer a HIPAA compliant video interface for the clinical interview and evening and weekend availability for appointments. Our psychologists submit a psychological health declaration to the department upon completion of the interview.

Many states require all law enforcement officer applicants to pass a Pre-Employment Post-Offer Psychological Evaluation performed by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist. Our licensed forensic psychologists employ the best practices for conducting these evaluations for law enforcement officers, combining their deep knowledge of professional standards and guidelines with their clinical experiences with public safety, active-duty military, and veteran service members to provide an evaluation that is thorough and fair — for both applicants and the law enforcement agency itself. Depending on the needs of the applicant and agency, our ability to administer online standardized assessments, a HIPAA-compliant video interface for the clinical interview, and evening or weekend availability for appointments creates additional opportunities for remote clients and those with scheduling difficulties to complete these essential law enforcement screenings.

All public safety professionals receive an annual online Human Performance Assessment (HPA) that focuses on the multifaceted dimensions of behavioral health and resilience. The data we receive back, and ultimately review with each person during their examination, allows us to spend the personal time and attention required to discuss how a public safety professional’s mental wellness affects their physical health, personal performance, and vice versa. Our assessments allow us to help people understand when to reach out for help and what help is available. Our online HPA uses the industry standard testing instruments to include PCL-5 (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), PHQ-9 (Depression), ISI-7 (Sleep), Alcohol (Audit-C), Tobacco Use (FTND), and Anxiety (GAD-7), among others.

Fitness for Duty evaluations can occur at any point during an employee’s career. Supervisor concern or external concern (e.g., from a medical professional) about an employee’s ability to complete job-related tasks can initiate a fitness for duty evaluation. The psychologist will review any medical records related to the issue or concern, as well as any employment records detailing the individual’s performance at work. The report will provide a recommendation regarding the employee’s fitness to perform specific job duties or requirements and the employee’s ability to resume unrestricted duty. The report may find the employee to be fit for duty without restrictions, fit for duty with certain restrictions or modifications, or unfit for duty.

Assessing your department’s organizational climate should be as routine as ensuring your building doesn’t have any leaks. You may wonder why it would be necessary to have a formal organizational assessment when you have an open-door policy and should already know what your people think. So many leaders share this same perspective. While it is admirable, many leaders severely underestimate the willingness of their team to bring forward pertinent issues and information. An organizational climate assessment affords your team an opportunity to honestly and anonymously provide feedback to the department about a number of important issues, to include burnout in the workplace, camaraderie, teamwork, sexual harassment, inclusion, alcohol use, and support. Many of these issues, if identified early, can easily be mitigated through discussions or expert presentations. This survey is a win-win for a department – you either confirm that your department and leadership are on the right track, fostering a healthy environment with few concerns, or you are able to identify blind spots in your organization and mitigate the impact as early as possible. In the end, a healthy team and positive culture and environment results in a better performing department.

Promotional psychological evaluations are structured, job-related assessments designed to assist departments in determining a candidate’s readiness for advancement into positions of increased authority, responsibility, and operational risk. Unlike pre-employment screening, which primarily focuses on identifying contraindications for initial appointment, promotional evaluations examine leadership readiness, judgment, stress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, ethical decision-making, and capacity to manage complex personnel and operational demands. These evaluations are conducted in accordance with professional guidelines (e.g., IACP, APA, POST standards where applicable) and emphasize fairness, job relevance, and defensibility. Agencies receive clear, concise, and actionable feedback that supports personnel decisions. Recommended that the evaluation is completed prior to a final hiring board.