First Responders Bridge tells committee retreats reduce stress, use and complaints; seeks funding

Mick Jagger and Mike Pavellino, founders of First Responders Bridge and retired public‑safety personnel, described a statewide counseling and retreat program for active and retired first responders that provides multi‑day retreats and short‑term counseling paid by the nonprofit.

Program details: Jagger told the committee the nonprofit offers three‑day retreats for law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, corrections and dispatch personnel and their significant others, plus a network of vetted clinicians for six free counseling sessions per person. He said recent retreats have hosted about 100–115 attendees, that in the last year the group paid for roughly 400 counseling sessions, and that attendees came from 83 of Ohio's 88 counties and 40 states overall.

Impact claimed: Jagger said an Ohio police chief reported that half of his department attended a retreat and afterwards experienced "less mark offs, less complaints, and less uses of force than they did prior to the retreat." The witnesses said retreats cost about $80,000 each (facility, clinicians, programming) and that much of the funding currently comes from corporate sponsors, private grants and participant travel fees.

What they asked for: The organization asked the committee to consider state support to expand retreats and counseling capacity; multiple legislators signaled willingness to explore grant or line‑item support and to coordinate possible amendments modeled on prior wellness funding found in earlier budgets.

Provenance: testimony and follow‑up questions are recorded in the hearing transcript where the organization described scope, cost and participant outcomes.