Mental Health Subcommittee

MHSC header graphic. Decorative. Images of firefighters overlaid on a forest fire in background. On the left positive words reflective of healthy mental state such as confidence, teamwork, friendships. On the right words indicating unhealthy stressors that may lead to poor mental health such as stress, time, expectations, no sleep, etc.

Mission Statement

The Mental Health Subcommittee (MHSC) provides national leadership in wildland firefighter mental health and wellness. The MHSC promotes and facilitates a national interagency approach to proactively identifying and addressing firefighter mental health.

Photo of a line of wildland firefighters walking away, single file, down a path.
  • Develop NWCG guidance that enables firefighters and fire managers to recognize hazards to  mental health and wellness and take effective prevention and mitigation actions.
  • Standardize processes for collecting and analyzing data on wildland firefighter mental health and wellness.
  • Use this data to inform development of NWCG wildland firefighter mental health and wellness guidance.
  • Provide a forum for all firefighters and managers to increase their knowledge of wildland firefighter mental health issues and contribute to improvements in this area.

Photo of a group of wildland firefighters carrying equipment and chainsaws walking up a steep hill while a helicopter flies in background.

Hot Topics

2021 Suicide Prevention Week, September 5 - 11

The wildland fire community has experienced significant events over the last few years that impact the mental health and wellness of wildland firefighters, our friends and loved ones, our coworkers, fire support personnel, and everyone else we interact with. This week the NWCG Mental Health Subcommittee has created seven days of messaging that we encourage you to share daily with all your resources. Our goal is to remove the stigma around mental health, to embrace a plan to take care of ourselves and those around us, and to give as much attention to our mental wellness as we do our physical fitness. The messaging should help you understand how to take care of yourself and those around you to help reduce the number of deaths by suicide each year. The five minutes you spend each day reading these pieces, and sharing them widely, could be the difference someone needs and the messaging they didn’t know they needed until you shared it. Let’s be part of the change and active participants in reducing the number of deaths by suicide each year.

Guidance

Behavioral Health

Stress First Aid (SFA) Training

 

Chair: 
Miranda Stuart
NWCG Coordinator: 
Tim Blake
Parent Committee: 
Risk Management Committee
Meeting Schedule: 
Second Tuesday of the Month
Page Last Modified / Reviewed: 
2021-10-25