Warner Robins renews PTSD support plan for first responders

City leaders say the plan protects firefighters, police officers and 911 operators coping with trauma from severe calls.

WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Warner Robins City Council recently renewed a state-mandated health insurance plan that provides mental health and financial support for first responders who experience post-traumatic stress disorder after a traumatic call or incident.

We often look at our firefighters, police officers, and 911 operators as heroes who aren’t affected by real-life trauma, but they are. The plan ensures first responders have access to mental health care and financial support if PTSD prevents them from working.

Sgt. Amber Clayton at the 911 call center in Warner Robins says the calls that stay with them most involve children and the elderly.

“Unfortunately, over time the mental health crises in our community has grown, so those are really starting to have their effect on a lot of our dispatchers as well,” said Clayton.

Clayton says most 911 operators carry trauma home after hours.

“We have implemented a lot of programs throughout the 911 center, the sheriff’s office, and other local agencies,” she said. “We have a peer support program in house. My captain and myself in about 2017, 2018 started going through training on the peer support certifications, and we’ve built that team up with the help of GSP, Warner Robins PD, Warner Robins Fire. We all have peer team members available to our staff to help with that trauma they carry.”

She says the peer support programs are good for minor calls, but this new coverage will help with the major calls.

“And I think this program is going to help more greatly with the more larger calls, for the employees that do need that extended absence to be able to gather themselves and get the proper treatment and help from outside what our peer support program can already do for them,” she said.

Clayton says she just wants all 911 operators to feel seen and heard.

“Oftentimes dispatchers are forgotten about,” she said. “A lot of people don’t consider us first responders; it’s still going through the House and the Senate to even get us approved as being considered first responders. So, I think this really puts it out there to them that they are supported and starting to be recognized as just being as important as the other first responders out in public safety.”

The PTSD coverage is now built into the human resources annual budget.