Peer support team helps police, firefighters who struggle after responding to violent scenes

By Tori Mason

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    AURORA, Colorado (KCNC) — The last weekend of October was busy for first responders in Aurora. Every few hours there was another scene with more victims, and lives lost too soon. It was a weekend of losses for loved ones, and the strangers who tried to save them.

Aurora Fire Battalion Chief Doug Whiting joined AFD in 2006. His memory is filled with years of calls he couldn’t forget if he tried.

“I don’t think you really know the full extent of what you’re going to come across until you’re really in it,” said Whiting. “We’re trained to be able to address those issues, but we also have trauma.”

Whiting remembers responding to his first incident when a teenager passed away.

He remembers his first fatal, pediatric call.

He remembers the first hanging he responded to, which involved an 11-year-old child.

There are incidents Whiting will remember forever. The Aurora theater shooting is just one.

“Things impacts us differently. But when it accumulates, all those events on a regular basis can make it difficult to come back to this job without healthy avenues of overcoming those obstacles,” said Whiting.

Whiting has been able to lean on his wife for support at home, but says he’s grateful for the resources offered through the city.

Faith Goodrich works with Aurora’s Peer Support Team.

“When we have a weekend like we just had it affects the entire community. It’s community trauma,” said Goodrich.

The team includes peer supporters, officers who are trained to help support each other. Goodrich says there’s also an employee support and wellness unit.

“We meet our officers where they are, just like we meet a victim where they are,” said Goodrich. “If a victim is not ready to talk about the crime that happened to them, we don’t force them to talk about it.”

The Support and Wellness Unit works closely with first responders to identify who needs help and how they can best support them.

“An officer knows how to make the call if they need to make that call, but we as supervisors can also point them in the right direction,” said Goodrich.

Sometimes that support comes in the form of Police Chaplin Gerald Bargaineer.

“We can build a bond where they feel safe and they can process life and the things that they encounter out there,” said Bargaineer. “They can come and talk to me about anything that they are going through.”

Bargaineer says he’s always by the phone, ready to take their calls or show up when asked.

Sometimes, he’s there before they need him.

“Us being intentional about engaging our officers, even in the moment, can help them release some of that pressure so that they can better serve our community.” said Bargaineer.

Whiting acknowledged how difficult it can be for some first responders to reach out.

“There seems to be a stigma that if you share that you’re bothered by something, no matter how significant or how minor it might be, then you’re weak or you’re not able to perform the job well,” said Whiting.

Whiting says there’s no amount of experience that can numb him to these calls.

He says it’s support that keeps him and other first responders going, off duty and on.

“I think one of the things that our community might not see is that we’re human as well. Every one of our fire members is your neighbor next door,” said Whiting.

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