Genola hears presentation on first-responder mental-health supports; town has options for on-call and state debrief teams

Tia White introduced herself to the Genola Town Council as a social worker who specializes in first-responder mental-health and peer support and outlined services her team provides to small and rural agencies.

White said her approach includes peer-support training, critical-incident psychological debriefs and on-call consultations. She told the council the state has an emergency-management team that can provide a free, multi-disciplinary debrief team (peers and mental-health professionals) for incidents the local department designates as critical, and that her firms services are generally offered on a pay-as-delivered basis with a written statement of work.

White said the state mandate requires communities to provide mechanisms for first-responder mental-health support and that services can cover volunteers, full-time staff, retirees and family members. Council members asked about cost structure, use of students or interns and how contracted services would interact with contracted officers from neighboring jurisdictions; White said she does not use interns for this specialized work and recommended that the town coordinate primary support through the responders full-time agency when multiple agencies share personnel.

Council members signaled interest in the informational presentation; no contract was approved at the meeting. White said she is available for debriefs and regular well-check visits and recommended the council consider a short statement of work to set fees and availability.

What happens next: The presentation was informational. Council requested staff follow up if they decide to draft a statement-of-work or contract.