Charity calls on businesses to support firefighters’ mental health

To mark the 80th anniversary of The Fire Fighters Charity, the organisation is continuing to offer proactive support with a focus on wellness, ensuring all their beneficiaries are equipped with the tools they need to live happily and healthily.

A huge part of the support offered over the decades – particularly in recent years – has been centred around mental health, not only helping personnel and their families dealing with poor mental health but providing resources to build resilience and promote positive mental wellbeing for all.

Huge increase in demand for support

Since 2019, the support The Fire Fighters Charity provides to the fire services community has more than doubled, with 10,000 people a year helped today, compared to 4,000 before. However, the stark reality is that it now needs to raise more income to keep pace.

The charity is asking organisations and businesses across the UK to donate to support its vital mental health support services for the fire services community. By giving what you can, you’ll help the charity to raise the £12m it needs this year.

Traditionally funded through donations from individual firefighters and members of the fire services community, the cost-of-living crisis has had a fundamental impact on the charity’s fundraising, meaning that corporate support is now more important than ever.

New ways of raising income

“We need to find new ways to raise the income we need to help the growing number of people we are supporting every day. Our Urgent Corporate Appeal is looking to reach businesses across the UK who would like to fund the mental health and wellbeing of our fire service personnel.”

Debbie Rushbrooke, Corporate Partnerships and Philanthropy Manager, The Firefighters Charity.

Available to every member of the fire services community, the charity’s mental health services include specialist in-person support at its three centres, as well as the delivery of one-to-one and group programmes and courses online.

However large or small their contribution, the appeal aims to give businesses a chance to show the fire and rescue services in their communities how much they value the work they do, by funding the specialist mental health services they need.

It’s like a reset button

By donating today, you’ll be helping people like Billy Lewis, 25, an on-call firefighter with Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service. The charity supported him with his mental health via both remote counselling sessions and on its Reset Programme at Harcombe House, its centre in Devon – which he says changed his life.

“All my friends and family have said to me since, it literally was a whole reset button for me. I heard them say, ‘I’ve finally got my son back’ or ‘I’ve finally got my brother back.’”

Differing responses to stress

You’ll also be helping people like Vicky Shakesby, 49, a Group Manager with Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, who received support for her mental health via the charity in 2016 at Jubilee House, its centre in Cumbria.

“There’s lots of ways, as firefighters, that we react to personal stress or stress in the job, and we’re all human. We’re not superhuman or superheroes like some think we are. We’re flesh and blood and your brain can only cope with so much”.

Supporting the whole family

And you’ll be helping people like Mark Thompson, 59, who works in Control for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. He was supported by the charity alongside his wife as they struggled with their mental health after losing two family members in a house fire.

“It’s very, very important to donate to The Fire Fighters Charity – what you can, when you can,” says Mark. “It’s our charity, it supports us, it’s there. Sometimes we don’t think about it until we actually need to use the services. It needs all the support it can get.”

This is part of our series commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Fire Fighters Charity. To learn more, see ‘Fire Fighters Charity at 80′.

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