Nonprofit helps First Responders offset cost and connect with mental health support

Maine (WABI) - First responders are the first ones on scene when someone calls for help,

But they can also be the last ones to reach out for help when it comes to mental health struggles.

A new program aims to bridge the gap between public safety workers and mental wellness support.

Joy Hollowell introduces us to the Toned Out Project.

“Some people don’t even know how to ask. They don’t know if they should.”

For 15 years, Dr. Emily Genever has been working with members of the public safety community.

“I just kept seeing a huge need,” she says. “Especially with rural fire departments where they’re not really getting paid. They can’t afford therapy sometimes.”

It’s a concern that’s close to her heart. Before becoming a therapist, Genever worked in EMS in Boston.

“It took other people telling me that I was getting affected by things for me to know I was having my own struggles,” she recalls.

Genever found the help she needed. She then decided to dedicate her career to helping other first responders with mental health struggles. She realized there were many in law enforcement, fire/EMS, dispatch and corrections that couldn’t access such help due to cost barriers.

I just kept thinking about- how can we make this better?”

She teamed with with Dr. Wally Fraser, another local counselor whose worked closely with the public safety community. Together, they created the Toned Out Project. The statewide initiative is focused on providing financial support and access to first responders when it comes to their mental well being.

“There’s a huge stigma around mental health and first responders,” notes Dr. Fraser. “A lot of it is- suck it up, deal with it, don’t talk about it. I would like to see things be more open, people talking more about their struggles, addressing struggles so that they can become stronger.”

“This is year number 31 for myself,” says Holden Police Lieutenant Andrew Whitehouse. “This is not a job that fits into any other category. It is not something people in public safety feel comfortable talking to other people about because we see, unfortunately, the horrors of life every day.

Whitehouse says public safety workers often think they’re superhuman.

“They’re not,” he says. “But they feel that way and they want to stay strong because that’s what we do. We’re here to help.”

And in many cases, the struggles that come with this job aren’t always apparent.

“This job is really death by 1,000 cuts,” says Whitehouse. “And you may have one cut but you’re not going to have the other 999. And that’s what happens with a lot of these first responders. It builds and builds and builds.”

The Toned Out Project aims to connect and help cover the cost of counseling, peer support programs as well as access to more intensive programs even if they are out of state.

Most importantly-

“It’s anonymous,” says Fraser. “As a mental health provider, I’ve had people travel two plus hours to come see me in person because they didn’t want co-workers or someone else in the community knowing. {With the Toned Out Project} if they don’t trust their boss or their co-workers, nobody needs to know. And with mental health in the state right now, you can meet somebody in person or online.”

Genever adds their nonprofit is available to any first responder in the state of Maine as well as their family members.

“With the work that we’re going, it’s putting the information out there so people can understand- wait a second, I’m experiencing these things. Maybe I do need to talk to somebody.”