OC Conference Supports First Responders

OCEAN CITY, Md – First Responder Conferences made a return to Ocean City Monday, for its 3rd conference on the Eastern Shore. The event spread mental health awareness and education, with over 200 local first responders in attendance.

“Today and tomorrow, we have speakers from from all over who come and give our local first responders some information about how to take care of themselves, and take care of others,” said Behind the Line Inc. Executive Director Heather Brown. Behind the Line co-hosted the event with the Worcester County Sheriff’s and First Responder Conferences.

Beyond guest speakers, the event also offered attendees different frameworks and strategies for handling the stressors that can build up over time on the job, said First Responder Conferences founder Shawn Thomas: “We talk about post-traumatic stress, post traumatic growth, EMDR, or different therapies they can try. Maybe even yoga or meditation.”

Sgt. Butch Mills of the Fruitland Police Department said events like this go a long way to address the stigma of talking about mental health as a first responder: “I think the general public views us as very robotic, and that we should be perfect. And the reality of it is that nobody’s perfect and we’re all fighting our own issues”

Mills says that what he learns here are things that he’ll be able to bring back and spread to his own department. He emphasized the importance of being able to lean on one another when times get tough, saying “Even if it’s just in our small departments where we can reach out for help. A program like this where we’ve got 200 people in the room, the way I look at it that’s 200 resources. You cant put even a finger on how important it is”

First Responder Conferences have held events in 9 cities outside of the eastern shore. Next year’s conference in ocean city has already been scheduled.