Jessica Ward Jessica Ward

Teach Your Crews to Self-Rescue

Your fire department is like your family — just as you want your kids to grow into strong, independent adults, you want the same for your crew. As a fire chief or training officer, it's time to embrace self-rescue as the ultimate strategy for building lasting resilience and empowering your team to handle any challenge, on or off the job.

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Jessica Ward Jessica Ward

Four Secrets to Habit Change in the Firehouse

Inspiring others to change can appear like an uphill struggle. But with these four battle-tested strategies, you can spark lasting behavioral health improvements and lead your crews toward stronger, healthier habits.

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Jessica Ward Jessica Ward

Drama and Trauma are Expensive, Chief.

The fire service loves to glorify trauma, but at what cost? From draining budgets on training and morale to losing lives, it’s time to stop romanticizing the pain and start focusing on viable solutions for firefighter resilience.

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Jessica Ward Jessica Ward

Is Stress Really What We Think?

The man who coined the term “stress” wasn’t even sure that it was a good decision. Now you can win the battle against this pervasive element of life by re-evaluating what you decide to call it.

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Jessica Ward Jessica Ward

Self-Command: PPE for the Mind

Sooner or later, an unprotected mind will reveal its vulnerabilities. Self-command is one way to prevent these vulnerabilities from taking control in the first place. The concept is simple: be the chief of your mental environment.

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Jessica Ward Jessica Ward

It’s Not the Job, It’s Your People

Emergencies are predictively chaotic. The job of firefighting is relatively straightforward - wet stuff on red stuff. It’s the firefighter who introduces variability to the system.

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Jessica Ward Jessica Ward

The Myth of Resilience

Reactive strategies have a place on the spectrum of wellness solutions. However, relying solely on the manufactured stability of access to EAP, therapy, EMDR, or other modalities promotes overall fragility in the system.

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