RIDGEFIELD — Several years ago, former Ridgefield firefighter David Dachinger had trouble sleeping as a result of experiences he had while on the job.
One particular call he remembered was being inside a building when it burst into flames.
“There were elements to that call that worried me for months,” said Dachinger, a resident of West Harrison, NY, who retired last year after 13 years as a firefighter. “It was really starting to interfere with the quality of everyday life and with my job.”
He was able to get help through a form of psychotherapy called EMDR (eye movement desensitization, desensitization, and reprocessing).
EMDR is just one of the topics Dachinger talks about in a weekly video podcast he co-created, called Responder Resilience.
The podcast, which is free, airs every Wednesday at 7 pm on BBSRadio.com, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Facebook. There is a new topic discussed in every 45-55 minute episode.
The podcast features expert guests sharing wellness information and stories from first responders who have incorporated the experts’ strategies and advice into their lives.
Dachinger said he created the podcast out of concern for first responders, “who are experiencing an epidemic of duty-induced physical and mental health issues.”
Law enforcement officers and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additionally, EMS providers are about 1.4 times more likely to die by suicide than the public.
Topics included: Best Sleep Practices, “Get Checked Now!”, “Toxic Exposures”, “Bailing Out Your Nutritional Practices”, “Exercise for First Responders”, “The Reality of PTSD”, “When Children Die ”, “Mutts Mending Mankind (Therapy Dogs)”, and peer support.
“Peer support is a big topic in the world of first responders,” Dachinger said. “It’s a system where if someone has a challenge, a problem, a problem, they can find someone who is more of a peer than a superior and talk about it.”
Another episode dealt with marriage and relationships.
“We had a married couple, a retired Seattle fire captain and his wife,” Dachinger said. “They wrote a book about firefighter marriage, so we had an episode about the challenges of being married to a firefighter from the perspective of the spouse and then from the perspective of the firefighter.”
To co-host the show, Dachinger partners with Stacy Raymond, a clinical psychologist based in Ridgefield; and Bonnie Rumilly, EMT, trauma therapist and licensed clinical social worker.
“We do a mix of local guests and national guests,” Dachinger said. “Some of our guests are from the NYPD (New York Police Department) and the FDNY (New York City Fire Department).”
The show has featured the chief of the Wilton Police Department, a fire captain from Ridgefield, and the deputy fire chief from Danbury.
No topic is off limits; recently, a term known as institutional abandonment was addressed.
“It’s when someone feels like their agency or department isn’t adequately supporting them. Very often that happens either with their mental health or in a situation that could be really difficult and challenging for them at work,” said Rumilly, who has an office in Wilton.
She said another term the podcast has talked about is called betrayal trauma, “where people aren’t there to support you in your time of need. These jobs are so hard. I mean, what first responders have to do on a daily basis is completely abnormal: take calls with child deaths or suicides. It’s a trauma all day, every day.”
All work related to the podcast, including editing and adding comments, takes 20-30 hours a week.
birth of the podcast
Raymond and Rumilly are facilitators of a peer support group for first responders of which Dachinger is a member.
He said that he was impressed with both of them, from the moment he met them.
“I saw that the two of them had this amazing chemistry and ability to relate to responders, talk about some of the challenges that they were facing, and do it in a really powerful way. At the same time, when things get too serious, they know how to keep the pace,” Dachinger said. “As I watched the two of them do what they do, I thought, I think we could create a podcast with the two of them and I, and combine our experience and skill sets to talk about some of the core issues facing first responders in mental health and also in physical health.
Raymond and Rumilly volunteer with the Fairfield County Trauma Response Team, a nonprofit group that treats first responders for post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma.
The Fairfield County Response Team and other groups support the podcast. The initial startup was around $6,000. The program is looking for sponsors.
Future plans
Dachinger said he hopes to distribute the podcast.
“It’s on multiple platforms now, but we’d love to see it grow to a place where we can get it to more responders and continue to reach more people,” he said.
He added that there is a stigma attached to many first responders when they ask for help.
“There’s a whole mentality of making the call, suck it up, go to the next call,” he said. “Sometimes these traumas build up and there’s no opportunity for someone to ask for help or sometimes it’s awkward for them to ask for help.”
Dachinger said he’s happy to be able to spend his time on the podcast, as it deals with topics that are very close to his heart.
“I had a wonderful career and was lucky enough to work at Ridgefield,” he said. “When you retire it can really leave a big void in your life if you don’t have anything else consuming a lot of your time, so this podcast really has been the perfect blend of my love of making video and audio and stay connected with it. world of first responders.
[email protected] 203-948-9802
