A Conversation w/ Dr. Elizabeth Anderson-Fletcher & Jeff Dill

On this installment of Next Steps Forward, Dr. Elizabeth Anderson-Fletcher and Jeff Dill join program host Chris Meek. Dr. Elizabeth Anderson-Fletcher is Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management in the Department of Decision and Information Sciences in the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, with a joint faculty appointment in the Hobby School of Public Affairs. She is Faculty Director of Bauer Honors, Director of Accreditation in the Hobby School, and Associate Director of the UH First Responder Program in the Department of Psychology. She is also a volunteer firefighter with eleven years of service, recently promoted to captain. She was the project director for First Responder Mental Health and Wellness, a grant awarded to Cypress Creek Fire Department by the Office of the Governor, State of Texas, Criminal Justice Division. She was instrumental in building Cypress Creek’s mental wellness program, which offers firefighters peer support, chaplaincy services, and/or licensed professional counseling through a partnership with a clinical practice. Jeff Dill is a retired Captain of the Palatine Rural Fire Protection District in Inverness, Illinois, who organized Counseling Services for Firefighters in 2009 and then founded the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance. In July of 2021, Jeff accepted the position of Behavioral Health Administrator with Las Vegas Fire and Rescue. Elizabeth and Jeff will discuss some of the specific mental health challenges commonly faced by first responders, the current prevalence of moral injury and how it applies to firefighters, the meaning of “cultural brainwashing” when it comes to talking about first responder’s mental health, as well as a plethora of other issues regarding firefighters and mental health.