Unique Program Focuses on Mental Skills Training for Firefighters

Firefighters from Marin and Contra Costa counties are participating in a unique performance psychology program at Dominican University of California. Their goal is to incorporate mental skills techniques into their departments’ training programs, something they believe will help firefighters become more resilient in traumatic, high-pressure situations.

Read story in the Marin Independent Journal.

Jason Hatfield, Battalion Chief at the San Rafael Fire Department (SRFD), has been involved with various aspects of his department’s training program throughout his career. Mental skills training would be a significant and important addition due to its focus on improving motivation, resilience, goal setting, and confidence.

“Our department, like all fire departments, spends a lot of time and resources on training our people,” Hatfield says. “All new hires go through an intensive fire academy that lasts several weeks. All existing employees participate in an ongoing training program to ensure all their skills remain sharp and current.”

“However, training often focuses on identifying weaknesses rather than providing firefighters with tools to improve their performance.”

Hatfield, David Watson, Assistant Chief of Training & Safety at the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, and Sam Nichols, Captain of Training & Safety at Contra Costa Fire Protection District, are enrolled in Dominican’s Sport and Performance Psychology certificate program. 

On December 16, additional firefighters from departments throughout the Bay Area participated in a one-day mental skills workshop at Dominican, which both Hatfield and Watson have helped to organize.

There’s growing recognition of the importance of addressing not only mental health but also mental skills in high-stress and physically challenging professions such as firefighting, says Dr. Alison Pope-Rhodius, Professor and Program Director of Dominican’s program in Applied Sport and Performance Psychology (ASPP).

“Firefighters deal with stress and anxiety in situations that can have physiological effects,” Pope-Rhodius says. “Their responses to the stress – if not optimal – can inhibit performance in the most critical of situations.”

Dominican offers both a master’s degree in ASPP and shorter certificate programs that can be tailored to meet the needs of a range of performance domains. Both options follow an applied, non-clinical approach that integrates both mental skills and performance training. 

San Rafael's Hatfield heard about ASPP from a long-time contact in Dominican’s nursing program. The SRFD paramedics often train in Dominican’s nursing simulation labs, while nursing students often accompany paramedics on ambulance ride-alongs. He looks forward to taking what he has learned back to the workplace.

“I have found that often it is not the hands-on skills that the firefighters and paramedics struggle with, it is performing these skills under pressure. Additionally, the ability to remain calm and make good decisions while under pressure is a critical component of being a good firefighter/paramedic.”

Consistently performing at a high level is an ongoing struggle for all first responders, Hatfield says.

“Our Firefighters train hard every shift. They want to perform better and are trying everything they can. Exposure to performance psychology will give them (and those of us who train them) more tools and more effective tools to get them to where they need to be.”

Contra Costa Fire’s Watson first heard about mental performance training from the Leadership Under Fire podcast. His goal is to develop a mental performance program for his department that integrates the best of sport and military performance strategies into Contra Costa’s existing training and education programs. 

Firefighters, he notes, are “tactical athletes.” 

“Firefighters need to perform at a very high level at all times and in all sorts of high stress situations," he says.

“The Dominican program will help us to develop a program for our academies and for our in-service personnel to help with skills to deal with high stress situations.  The program will also help us ensure that we are providing our personnel with the best tools to learn and apply the skills of their job.”

Contra Costa Fire’s Nichols became interested in studying performance psychology after participating in a virtual course titled “Optimizing Human Performance Under Pressure,” offered by firefighters, mostly from the New York City Fire Department, and Leadership Under Fire. 

Nichols is leading the effort to build and implement the human performance program at Contra Costa County Fire. 

“The opportunity to partner with Dominican to help us as we build out our program is unique in that it has allowed us to partner with a local college to help us as we build out our program. They have been an excellent resource for us.”

In recent years, SRFD’s Hatfield says, there’s been more of an emphasis on mental health training.

“This is due to high levels of PTSD. Historically the fire service, as well as law enforcement and the military, has not done a good job addressing the mental health impacts of the job. Fortunately, the current trend is more focus and support for mental health. 

Mental skills training, however, goes one step further. 

“I have trained individuals and told them they need to calm down, be more confident, have greater focus, etc. It is one thing to tell them that, but it is another thing to follow that up with “here are some things that you can do to increase your confidence, and here are some ways you can increase your focus.” What I find valuable about this program are the applied aspects, or what we firefighters call tools in the toolbox.”

Watson, Nichols and Hatfield hope to develop a long-term relationship with Dominican.

“By creating a relationship, we will both be able to learn and grow. We hope that in the future, students will be able to do their internship hours at Contra Costa County Fire. We hope that we will be able to continue to work together to grow and expand the field of sport performance in the fire service,” Watson says. 

“We have a cadre of great firefighters who work hard to train and mentor our newest firefighters. I want to eventually have all of these individuals go through the program,” Hatfield adds.