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Years ago, when Mitch Cooper was an officer in the Altoona Police Department, pamphlets were available containing information about dealing with stress on the job and other troubling issues.
But those pamphlets weren't easily accessible, and officers worried that if it became known they needed help with stress, anxiety, depression or fear, they'd seem weak and maybe less trustworthy to their peers -- and less worthy of promotion to their bosses, according to Cooper.
Now a chaplain with the Blair Emergency Services Chaplain Platoon, Cooper participated Tuesday in the launch of the platoon's much more comprehensive electronic successor to those old pamphlets -- a web app that also reflects a more enlightened approach that encourages first responders to seek help when struggling with highly charged events they routinely encounter, rather than denying the need, with sometimes destructive results.
Police officers, firefighters, ambulance workers and corrections officers can download the wellness app on their phones or other devices to access profiles and contact information for agencies that can assist with mental health issues, suicide prevention, sexual abuse problems and stress management; to find avenues for dealing with work-life balance and compassion fatigue; to learn self-care techniques for grief, anger and stress; to find resources for spiritual wellness and financial stability; to learn how to deal with death notifications and to make prayer requests.
The app will fill "an unmet need," according to Chief Chaplain Mike Blackie.
There are contents that are confidential to the first responder community, so only vetted first responders can fully make use of the app, according to Blackie.
The app is modeled on others from around the country, but it's customized for the Blair County area, officials said.
If it were a book, it would be "pretty thick," said Joe Merilli, owner of PS Solutions, which created the app under Blackie's guidance.
"Wellness is a big thing and it covers a wide area," Blackie said.
Blackie envisions users accessing the app while sitting in their cruisers, their fire trucks or ambulances.
"They can find the information they need right then and there," he said. "They won't have to dig through brochures and flyers."
It's a "one-stop" resource, Merilli said.
Blackie's draft for the app was reviewed by other members of the organization before it was put into final form, Cooper said.
There are four basic headings on the app: support, chaplains, resources and local support.
Under support, the app lists contact information and an organizational profile for COPLINE, The International Association of Fire Fighters PTSD & Mental Health Hotline; the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline; The Crisis Text Line; the National Sexual Assault Hotline; Safe Call Now and the platoon itself.
The other headings are fully accessible only to vetted first responders.
The app will also be available to family members of first responders, according to Blackie.
The platoon will track the names of app users, but not the nature of their content searches, according to Blackie.
None of that information will go to the agencies for which the first responders work, Blackie said.
The organization operates with the kind of confidentiality that governs clergy-parishioner relationships, Blackie said.
When Cooper was a police officer, he investigated homicides, fires in which children have died and child abuse cases resulting in death.
"That builds up on you over time," Cooper said.
Those kinds of stresses can lead first responders to compensatory behaviors like excessive drinking, illegal drug use, acting out physically or verbally at home and excessive aggression "on the street," Cooper said.
"They're all warning signals," he said.
The app is a place to go for those who can recognize that those signals should be a trigger to seek help, according to the organization.
The app is available on the organization's website: www.bescp.org.
A donation from Reliance Bank paid for the project.
The Catholic War Veterans Post 1691 also helped, according to officials.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.