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: line-of-duty deaths, mass-casualty events, pediatric fatalities, serious injury to colleagues, and the toll of many difficult calls over a career.
These are hazards of the job. Many states already recognize PTSD as a work-related injury for first responders. The law recognizes the injury. Organizations now need to recognize the hazard and give the same attention to preventing it.
Treating traumatic exposure as a workplace hazard brings the organization’s responsibility to protect its people into the conversation about first responder behavioral health.
These are hazards of the job. Many states already recognize PTSD as a work-related injury for first responders. The law recognizes the injury. Organizations now need to recognize the hazard and give the same attention to preventing it.
Treating traumatic exposure as a workplace hazard brings the organization’s responsibility to protect its people 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 how the work itself is organized and led. Both are needed. Neither can do the job alone.
FRBH works to:
☑ Increase awareness of traumatic exposure as a workplace hazard.
☑ Explain 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 treat traumatic exposure as part of workplace safety, as they do other recognized hazards of the job. FRBH does not prescribe how agencies meet this responsibility. Each will find the approach that fits its people and its work.
FRBH brings this message to public safety leaders, policymakers, and the public.
FRBH works to:
☑ Increase awareness of traumatic exposure as a workplace hazard.
☑ Explain 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 treat traumatic exposure as part of workplace safety, as they do other recognized hazards of the job. FRBH does not prescribe how agencies meet this responsibility. Each will find the approach that fits its people and its work.
FRBH brings this message to public safety leaders, policymakers, and the public.
Across Public Safety
FRBH’s mission includes 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 happens away from 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 happens away from the incident scene.
SCOPE: FRBH is an independent national nonprofit that advances occupational PTSD prevention and awareness through education and advocacy. FRBH does not provide clinical care, consulting, training, certification, or accreditation, and does not endorse products or services.