Local coalition lets first responders know they're not alone

Tara Rivera of Recovery Centers of America at Westminster who organized the recent resiliency training for first responders poses with the event presenters at Clear Path for Veterans in Devens. Left to right: 36th Chief of Staff of the United State Army, General George Casey, Jr., Master Resilience Trainer, Chris Poe, Retired Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum (POW), and Rivera. (COURTESY RECOVERY CENTERS OF AMERICA)
Employees of Recovery Center of America at Westminster gather around presenters Master Resilience Trainer, Chis Poe, and Ret. Brigadier General, Rhonda Cornum, at a recent first responders training. Left to right: Ray Marsh, Poe, Tara Rivera, Cornum, MC Aston, and Robert Wirtanen. (COURTESY RECOVERY CENTERS OF AMERICA)
Retired Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum, speaks to a group of about 75 first responders who gathered to hear her and other experts talk about resiliency and preventing mental health and substance use disorders. Cornum was a flight surgeon aboard a Black Hawk helicopter on a search and rescue mission when it was shot down during the Gulf War. She suffered two broken arms, a broken finger, a gunshot wound to the back, and other injuries. She was captured and made a prisoner of war. (COURTESY RECOVERY CENTERS OF AMERICA)
Tara Rivera, a treatment advocate at Recovery Center of America at Westminster and organizer of an event on resiliency for first responders looks on as Anthony Jones of RCA discusses the organization’s First Responders Program which aims to help eliminate the stigma associated with addiction by providing specialty and private groups and individualized treatment specifically for those who wear or have worn a uniform — in law enforcement, fire, dispatch and EMS, as well for as military veterans. (COURTESY RECOVERY CENTERS OF AMERICA)

PUBLISHED: May 17, 2023 at 5:00 a.m. | UPDATED: May 17, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

DEVENS — The mental health of first responders matters.

That fact has not been lost on Recovery Centers of America, Clear Path for Veterans New England, 49 North, Aware Recovery Care or Join Coalition on Health. To let first responders and peer support personnel know they’re not alone, the partners welcomed three retired members of the armed forces to share their presentation “Exploring Organizational and Individual Resilience.”

Those three were the 36th Chief of Staff to the U.S. Army General George Casey Jr., retired Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum, who was prisoner of war in 1991; and Master Resilience Trainer Chris Poe to Devens. The presentation focused on how trauma can impact one’s life and destigmatizing mental health concerns.

“Constant exposure to trauma, life-threatening situations, and the physical strain of working long hours on little to no sleep can negatively impact overall mental health. This lifestyle can increase vulnerability and the risk of substance use disorders. The experts provided tools to prevent burnout, substance use disorder, and mental health emergencies,” Recovery Centers of America said in a press release.